The "Face of Mars" may look like a face but it really is not, it is natural landfrom. When NASA unveiled the image to the public of the Face, they put a note saying "huge rock formation . . . which resembles a human head . . . formed by shadows giving the illusion of eyes, nose, and mouth." Most people belive that it an ancient civilization on Mars, because of what they see in movies, books, magazines, and even rado talk shows.

People think the face is "bona fide" evidence of life on Mars. Those people say that NASA would rather hide evidence of life on Mars, say conspiracy theorists. Few scientist believed the Face was an alien artifact, photographong Cydonia became a priority for NASA eighteen years after the mission ened.

Jim Garvin said that they felt that it was important to the taxpayers, so they photographed the Face as soon as they could get a shot of it. In 1998 Mars Global Sureyor flew over Cydonia for the first time and snapped a picture ten times sharper that the original.

The 2001 picture shows is the Martian equivalent of a butte or mesa, landfroms common around the American West. Jim Garvin says that it reminds him of most of Middle Butte in the Snake River Plain of Idaho, but it really a lava dome that takes the from of an isolated mesa about the same height as the Face on Mars.