The "Face on Mars" is just a natural landform. There is no civilization on Mars. What made you think that there was a face on Mars was the shadows being casted on the landform. We have many of these landforms on Earth.

Nasa took the picture of the landform and wanted to attract attention to Mars. According to the story, Nasa unveiled the image for all to see. The caption noted a "huge rock formation... which resembles a human head... formed by shadows giving the illustion of eyes, nose, and a mouth."

The authors reasoned it would be a good way to engage the public and attract attention to Mars, and it did. (Paragraph 3 and 4)

Nasa wanted to show that there was no face on Mars. Nasa took another shot of the face. They felt that is was important to taxpayers. On April 5, 1998 Michael Malin and his MOC team snapped a picture ten times sharper than the original Viking photos. The image first appered on a JPL web site, revealing a natural landform not an alien monument. (Paragraph 6 and 7)

Another fact is that we have many landforms like this in the United States. The story states that, on April 8, 2001 Mars Global Survetor drew close enough for a second look. What the picture shows is the Martian equivalent of a butte or mesa- landforms common around the American West. "It reminds me most of Middle Butte in the Snake River Plain of Idaho," says Garvin, " That's a lava dome that takes the form of a isolated mesa about the same height as the Face on Mars." (Paragraph 10 and 12)

Many people took the Face on Mars too far. People made the "Face on Mars" in movies, appeared in books, magazines, radio talk shows, and it even haunted grocery store checkout lines for 25 years. Some people thought that Nasa was hiding evidence that there is life on Mars. Nasa would have wanted people to know if there was life on Mars, because Nasa's budget has been cut.

This is why the "Face on Mars"

is only just a landform with shadows on it that makes it look like a face. People have just taken the situation a little too far. There still could be a chance that there is a life form on Mars, but for know we know that the "Face on Mars" is just a landform.