Email about the Face on Mars

A few days ago I received the email shown above from a person in Italy. Note that I have slightly cropped the images to fit the space available here. I assume that this email was directed to me because of my previous writings that the so called “Face on Mars” is nothing more than a mesa. In the email I’m not sure if they’re referring to the Face on Mars as a miracle or if the writer is being sarcastic and referring to the subsequent images as miracles of deception. I think the latter based on the reference to the original Viking image as true and the subsequent images as less than true.

Nobody likes having their religion challenged and for those people who believe that the Face on Mars is an artifical structure built by some alien race, these are clearly hard times. Recent imaging by NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Odyssey missions, as well as ESA’s Mars Express (see this Astronomy Picture of the Day image), have clearly shown this feature to be nothing more than a naturally formed mesa in a region of Mars (Cydonia Mensae) in which mesas are common. Clearly, believers in the alien artifact religion are hard pressed.

That they are so hard pressed is further evident in how they choose to present relevant imagery. For example, take a look at the image below. The inset image is the original Mars Odyssey THEMIS image of the Face from the email. The main image is the original version from the Mars Odyssey web site found here. It’s clear that the version in the email has had its contrast enhanced and highlights boosted, obliterating detail present in the original image thus making the face look more artificial. Purveyors of this religion rely heavily on the ignorance of their audience.

Mars Odyssey Themis image of the Face on Mars with inset image from email.

Why do I call this belief a religion? Because people still cling to this belief in spite of all evidence to the contrary. Which reminds me of a parallel situation. Over 100 years ago the astronomer Percival Lowell offered a complex and coherent explanation for the linear features that he observed telescopically on the surface of Mars. He claimed that they were actually irrigation canals built by the Martians to irrigate the equatorial regions of their dying planet. Despite mounting evidence that the lines he saw were nothing more than optical illusions, and no additional supporting evidence, Lowell clung to his belief – though for Lowell it was not a religion.

One good thing came about as a result of the email I received. In response to this email, I have just published on my Mars Art Gallery web site an article I had written last year discussing the Face on Mars and the visual perception law known as the Law of Prägnanz. If not for this email, this article would probably have never seen the light of day. The Law of Prägnanz and the Face on Mars is an article that explains why we perceive the face on Mars as a face. So my thanks to the sender of the email as that provided me the motivation to dust off the article and go public with it.

Ad Astra, Jim

Phoenix Lander First Picture of the Martian Surface

Hurray. The Phoenix Lander has survived Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) to arrive safely on the surface of Mars. The radio signal indicating its success was received at NASA JPL at 4:53:44 p.m. Pacific Time. The signal was relayed from Phoenix to Earth via Mars Odyssey, now in orbit around Mars.

As I write this Phoenix has been on the surface of Mars for almost three and a half hours. Phoenix was launched August 4, 2007 and followed a Type II trajectory to Mars. It has landed in an arctic lowland plain in a vast region known as Vastitas Borealis. The longitude of the Phoenix landing site is 233 degrees East longitude. This lies to the east of the line of longitude on which the volcano Arsia Mons sits. Phoenix’s latitude is 68 degrees North. On Earth this would be in northern Greenland and very close to the Artic Circle.

Phoenix’s prime mission is to last 90 days. Believe it when you are told that this won’t be like the MER missions which have outlived their 90 day mission by years. Right now summer is just starting in the northern hemisphere of Mars and the Sun will be above the horizon all day. But as winter approaches, less and less sunlight will reach the solar arrays and the nights will get colder and colder. And there will come a day when the Sun doesn’t rise and before the winter is over Phoenix could well be buried under a foot or more of dry ice – the Martian version of snow. So this mission will effectively end sometime this November when Mars passes behind the Sun from our perspective and all communications with the red planet are cut off.

So Phoenix will have a short life, but let’s hope that it is a very productive one.

Ad Astra, Jim

P.S. My interview with WBBM radio (780 AM) about the Phoenix mission is to air sometime tomorrow (Monday).  Sometime after airing, the full 30 minute interview will be posted to their web site.

Mars Phoenix Lander

Earlier today I made a trip to the local office of the Daily Herald in order to be interviewed for a WBBM-AM radio (780 on the dial) newscast. The interview was conducted by Steve Grzanich, reporter and co-anchor of the afternoon news at WBBM. For half an hour we talked about the Phoenix lander mission to Mars and its place in the exploration of Mars. We discussed past missions to Mars, current missions to Mars, how we benefit from the study of Mars, and what the prospects are for future human missions to the red planet.

In addition to talking about Mars, I was able to get in brief plugs for the Chicago Society for Space Studies, the National Space Society, and my upcoming presentation on space art at the International Space Development Conference in D.C.

I was also supposed to be interviewed by Julie, a reporter for the Daily Herald, but just as I arrived at the Herald’s office, she was called away on breaking news on the Drew Peterson escapade.

It was a fun interview and the time passed quickly. My long time interest in Mars is largely responsible for my work with the raw image data returned by various Mars missions, beginning with the Viking missions. I’ve been lecturing about the exploration of Mars since 1988 and it was my desire to provide unique images as a part of my presentations that got me started with processing raw image data instead of relying on images released by the NASA public affairs folks Prior to the Internet, the only way to obtain this mission data was by ordering CD’s from the National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC). Now the NASA PDS Imaging Node makes those data files easily accessible to anyone with an Internet connection.

I am told that the interview should air Thursday (tomorrow) afternoon and that the full interview will be available as a podcast in a few days on the WBBM web site. I’ll provide the details once I have them.

Ad Astra, Jim