![]() ![]() "We felt this was important to taxpayers," explained Jim Garvin, chief scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Program. 1997, eighteen long years after the Viking missions ended. Meanwhile, defenders of the NASA budget wish there was an ancient civilization on Mars.Īlthough few scientists believed the Face was an alien artifact, photographing Cydonia became a priority for NASA when Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) arrived at the Red Planet in Sept. It has starred in a Hollywood film, appeared in books, magazines, radio talk shows - even haunted grocery store checkout lines for 25 years! Some people think the Face is bona fide evidence of life on Mars - evidence that NASA would rather hide, say conspiracy theorists. The "Face on Mars" has since become a pop icon. Sign up for EXPRESS SCIENCE NEWS delivery formed by shadows giving the illusion of eyes, nose and mouth." The authors reasoned it would be a good way to engage the public and attract attention to Mars. ![]() The caption noted a "huge rock formation. Click here for a 2001 photo from Mars Global Surveyor that reveals the true appearance of the Face.Ī few days later NASA unveiled the image for all to see. Scientists figured it was just another Martian mesa, common enough around Cydonia, only this one had unusual shadows that made it look like an Egyptian Pharaoh.Ībove: A 1976 Viking 1 photograph of the Face on Mars. There must have been a degree of surprise among mission controllers back at the Jet Propulsion Lab when the face appeared on their monitors. An enormous head nearly two miles from end to end seemed to be staring back at the cameras from a region of the Red Planet called Cydonia. NASA's Viking 1 spacecraft was circling the planet, snapping photos of possible landing sites for its sister ship Viking 2, when it spotted the shadowy likeness of a human face. The mounds may be responsible for the aerial pattern of scattered circles, though Sparavigna says on-the-ground confirmation is needed.- Twenty five years ago something funny happened around Mars. 11, 2016 (opens in new tab) - the paper has yet to be peer-reviewed. Sparavigna discusses her theory in a scientific paper posted online on Jan. These pesky critters can create nesting mounds spanning some 47 inches (120 centimeters) across and are typically surrounded by bare ground up to 108 square feet (10 square meters), according to physicist Amelia Carolina Sparavigna, a specialist in image processing and satellite imagery analysis at the Politecnico of Torino in Ital. Turns out, the desert around the Grand Canyon is home to red harvester ants (Pogonomyrmex barbatus). (Image credit: Google Earth) (opens in new tab)Īn odd polka-dot pattern near the cinder cone volcano dubbed Vulcan's Throne on the north rim of the Grand Canyon may have a simple explanation: ants. This weird polka-dot pattern in the vegetation near a volcano on the rim of the Grand Canyon could be the work of red harvester ants. The site was once equipped with missiles in the open air, with embankments between paired launch sites. Here, one of those sites, the Oahu Defense Area in Hawaii, is shown in 1968. His plan is to build a geo-referenced database so that anyone can research the Nike missile sites through Google Earth. Those missiles became obsolete with the advent of long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles (opens in new tab) (ICBMs).ĭavid Tewksbury, a GIS (geographic information system) specialist at Hamilton College in New York, aimed to preserve a visual record of the abandoned Nike missile launch sites before they vanish - either as a result of being reclaimed by nature, repurposed by the military or redeveloped. ![]() Some of those missiles even carried nuclear warheads. Nike missiles, which were supersonic surface-to-air missiles, sat ready to launch at nearly 300 sites across the United States during a period of the Cold War, from 1954 to the 1970s. (Image credit: Google Earth) (opens in new tab) This Google Earth image shows the Oahu Defense Area in Hawaii, which was equipped with missiles in open air with earthen revetments, or embankments, between paired launch sites, shown here in 1968. ![]()
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