The Face is just another natural landform that any other planet would have. NASA sent out the Viking 1 in order to look for a landing spot for the Viking 2 on the planet Cydonia. When taking pictures of possible landing spots for the Viking 2, it picked up a shadowy figure that resembled a human head. But, scientists just figured it was another Martian Mesa which was common on Cydonia.

There is no life on Mars because the Face is actully just a Mesa. Mesas can be found on earth also, for example in the Snake River Plain of Idaho there is the Middle Butte. The Middle Butte is quite equivalent to the Face on Mars. The formation of the mesa has caused shadows to make it resemble a human face. These mesas are common on Cydonia.

Conspiracy theorists believed that NASA is trying to hide the fact that there is life on Mars. The reality is that NASA would in fact benefit from currently, or once having life on Mars. There was no actual alien monument which was later discovered after having the pictures enhanced, when enhanced there would have been other alien monuments around it. The pictures taken only showed that it was just a Martian mesa. Not a monument created by aliens, but a mesa that is found on any other planet. Thus, further backing the fact there is no alien life on mars.