In 1976, NASA's Viking 1 spacecraft captured a photo of what seemed to be a face on the surface of Mars. The Face on Mars caused speculation of alien life on Mars. However, the Face on Mars is a natural landform.

One of the reasons that the Face on Mars looks like a face is because of shadows that cause the illusion of facial features. A few days after the Face on Mars was discovered, NASA released the image to the public. On the image was a caption, which stated that the Face was just a "huge rock formation . . . which resembles a human head . . . formed by shadows giving the illusion of eyes, nose, and mouth." These shadows that were noted in the caption can easily create the illusion of a human head.

Adding to this, the Viking 1's camera quality was low compared to what we have today. So, the picture isn't all too clear. Every pixel in the clearest picture captured by the Viking 1 covers 43 meters. That's a low resolution compared to other spacecrafts that have photographed the face. One of these spacecrafts is the Mars Global Surveyor. The Mars Global Surveyor flew over Cydonia for the first time in April 5, 1998. When the spacecraft flew over Cydonia, Michael Malin and the Mars Orbiter Camera team took a picture ten times clearer than that of the Viking 1 picture. When the picture was released to the public, it revealed a natural landform. The Face on Mars was nothing more than a rock formation.

Although the pictures were clear, many people say that the pictures taken by the Mars Global Surveyor are unreliable due to them being taken in 1998. The reason for this is that, in 1998, it was winter where the Face was located, which caused a cloudy atmosphere. The Mars Global Surveyor had to peer through the clouds in order to see the Face. This led to many people not being satisfied with the pictures taken. Many skeptics said that the alien markings were hidden by the clouds. The claims that the skeptics made were refuted, however.

On April 8, 2001, the Mars Global Surveyor came close enough to take a second look, and pictures were taken. On that day, there weren't any clouds due the season being summer in Cydonia. On top of there being no obstacles to obscure the vision of the camera, the picture's resolution was at the maximum it could be. Each pixel spanned only 1.56 meters, compared to the Viking 1's picture. The picture revealed the Face to be a landform, just like the other pictures that were taken after the Viking 1 picture. The landform turned out just to be the equivalent of a butte or mesa, which are common in the American West. These landforms happen to be very common in Cydonia, which is why scientists came to the conclusion that it was a mesa before they had even taken more photos. The only difference between this mesa and another one is the shadows it casts, which causes the mesa to look like a face.

In short, the Face on Mars isn't a sign of alien life. Although it looked like a human head, it's really just a mesa. The Face on Mars is just a natural landform.