Note how the phrase "conspiracy theorists" is used here, categorically, as if I or any serious researcher ever bought the baloney promulgated by Stanton Friedman and his fellow psyop scummies. AC The Times EDITOR SATURDAY MAY 26 2001 Surveyor wipes aliens off the face of Mars BY MARK HENDERSON NEW pictures taken from a Nasa spacecraft orbiting Mars have debunked one of the most persistent myths surrounding the Red Planet: the famous ³Martian face.² The ghostly face that stares out from photographs of the Martian surface taken 25 years ago by the Viking 1 has sparked sensational fantasies of intelligent life on the planet. Nasa always insisted it was a natural rock formation but conspiracy theorists pronounced it a monument built by an ancient alien civilisation. New technology has revealed that it is neither a monument nor a face. The first clear, high-resolution images of the formation, taken from the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft, show it is a rocky outcrop similar to Uluru, formerly known as Ayers Rock, Australia, or the landforms of Americaıs Monument Valley in Arizona. The pictures are ten times sharper than the Viking images of 1976 and, unlike similar ones in 1998, they were taken on a cloudless day in the Martian summer, offering the best view yet. Further evidence that the structure is natural has come from measurements taken from a laser altimeter, which show its contours are similar to other formations, and that the eyes, nose and mouth of the original photograph are blurry optical illusions. Jim Garvin, chief scientist of Nasaıs Mars exploration programme, said that he took new pictures of the area because of public interest in the face. ³We felt this was important to taxpayers,² he said. ³We photographed the face as soon as we could get a good shot at it. Itıs not easy to target.² On April 8, 2000, the Global Surveyor took its most recent look. ³We had to roll the spacecraft 25 degrees to centre the face in the field of view,² Dr Garvin said. ³One observer said: Gee, it doesnıt look like a face to me!ı ³As a rule of thumb, you can discern things in a digital image three times bigger than the pixel size. So, if there were objects in this picture like airplanes on the ground or Egyptian-style pyramids or even small shacks, you could see what they were. ³We took hundreds of altitude measurements of the mesa-like features, including the Face. The height of the Face, its volume and aspect ratio all of its dimensions, in fact are similar to the other mesas. Itıs not exotic in any way.² Similar structures are found on Earth, Dr Garvin said. ³It reminds me most of Middle Butte in the Snake River Plain of Idaho. Thatıs a lava dome that takes the form of an isolated mesa about the same height as the Face on Mars.² Dr Garvin remains keen to send astronauts to the formation should a manned mission to Mars be organised. Nasaıs information about the Face is now so detailed that it is possible to calculate what it would be like to climb. He said: ³An apron of boulders around the base would make the climb difficult, but a human could do it well. It would take about two hours to reach the summit. From there the view would be spectacular.²
