Mistaken Face

NASA is a space program in the U.S. It has been for quite some time now. NASA has sent numerous things into space but one in specific has caused a great deal of curiosity through out the world. In 1976, a NASA spacecraft, Viking 1, took pictures of Mars and something unusual happened. A face apeared in a picture. At first NASA thought of the possibility of it being a foreign life form. But that possibility was stopped when scientists found out that it was just another Martian Mesa. A common landform on Mars. When the pictures were released to the public, many thought that NASA was lying, especially conspiracy theorists. They thought that NASA didn't want the public to know about an alien life form. That was very irrational.

Many people don't like the idea of space exploration because they say it's a waste of money. If NASA encountered foreign life forms, it would only be benefitial to tell the public because then NASA would gain popolarity and skeptism of the program would decrease. Many people would be curios about it and would want to know more about the race. Therefore NASA would have a better reputation and be more popular because of their discovery.

Secondly,technology has changed significantly since 1978. The original picture looks more like the face than any other one because of the old technology. In 1998, the picture looks more detailed. In 2001, it looks even more detailed. In 1976 the camera that took the photo only captured 43 meters per pixel making it much less definated compared to the picture taken in 2001 that captured 1.56 meters per pixel. This technology makes it less of a face.

Finally, because of the newer and more advanced technology, NASA's scientists could look further in to the so called alien face. After studying it, the scientists concluded that the "face" was a mesa. A mesa isnt't only found on Mars. It can also be found on Earth. There is one in the Snake River Plain of Idaho and it even has the same height as the Face on Mars. The "face" is more of a natural landform than anything.

New technoogy, comparable lndforms, and the explanation of how alien races would benefit NASA helped the space program prove conspiricy theorists and the public wrong. All of these supports are hard evidence that the face was a mesa in disguise. Although the finding of an alien race would be revolutionary, it's safe to say that the "face" isn't the discovery of one. We'll just have to wait until the future to encounter a race that isn't our own.