In the past, there has been much debate among scientists concerning the "Face on Mars". A picture was taken of a certain region of the Red Planet called Cydonia by Viking 1 in 1976. The image developed into what appeared to be a human face on the planet's surface. Some argue it is an alien artifact, but it is just a natural landform.

When scientists first studied the image in 1976, they infered that "the Face" was just another Martian mesa. Past research proves that Martian mesas and rock formations are common in the region of Cydonia, where the picture was snapped. Therefore, it is highly likely that "the Face" is just another natural landform with uncommon shadows.

Upon releasing the image for all to see, NASA captioned the picture "huge rock formation..." along with other descriptions. Some argued that it was an alien atrifact, so NASA decided to attempt something else. On April 5, 1998, Mars Global Surveyor along with Michael Malin and the Mars Orbiter Camera team snapped another picture of "the Face". The articles states the the image was "ten times sharper than the original Viking photos". This image proved that "the Face" was a rock formation, but there were still skeptics. Some still argued that it was an alien artifact, the picture was taken on a cloudy day, and alien markings were hidden by haze.

So, NASA responded yet again. The article states in the tenth paragraph "on April 8, 2001---a cloudless summer day in Cydonia---Mars Global Surveyor drew close enough for a second look". It also says "each pixel in the 2001 image spans 1.56 meters, compared to 43 meters per pixel in the best 1976 Viking photo". Scientists carefully analyzed the photo. In paragraph twelve, it says "what the picture actually shows is the Martian equivalent of a butte or mesa---landforms common around the American West". The natural landform on Mars was similar to landforms on the planet Earth.

The similarity of landforms on the two planets prove many things. The image proved that "the Face" is just a rock formation with unusual shadows. Also, it adds another similarity between the Earth and Mars. So, for all those skeptics out there, there's a small chance that life may still be out there on Mars. Who knows?