A face on Mars? In 2001 there were pictures take by NASA's Viking 1 spacecraft on Mars. Those pictures revealed what many believe was a face. When NASA revealed the picture for all to see they had called it "a huge rock formation." They stated, "it was formed by shadows giving the ilusion of eyes, nose, and mouth." It then became a pop icon.

Some people think the Face is evience of life on Mars. Theorists say NASA was trying to hide the evidece, where defenders of the NASA budget "wish there was an ancient civilization on mars." So, in 1998 scientists flew over Cydonia taking pictures of what many call the "Face" ten times sharper than before. When those pictures were released it was revealed to be a natural landform. But many argued otherwise.

For the third time in 2001, scientists went to take another look. The camera they had used proved to be much more accurate than the one used in the first Viking photo in 76. The pixels of the camera were 1.56 meters compared to 43 meters per pixel. According to scientists if there were any objects in the picture such as airplanes or Egyptian pyramids they would be able to be seen.

It is proven that the picture actaully showed butte or mesa landform. These landforms are very common around the West. The landform found was even compared to "the Snake River Plain of Idaho." Which is a dome about the same size size as the Face on Mars.

It is sad to say that there are proven facts that reveal there is no such thing as the "Face on Mars". For years scientists have been studying life on Mars. Even in 1976, 39 years ago!