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Face on Mars
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Face on Mars

The famous "face on Mars" refers to surface details in the Cydonia region of the planet Mars, which some interpret as the remains of designed structures meant to represent humanoid faces, pyramids, and other similar artifacts thus implying that some nonhuman intelligent agent constructed them. If this interpretation is correct, it would prove the existence of sentient beings outside of the earth.

Scientists at the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) claim the image of a face is caused by sunlight striking naturally formed geologic features in just the right way. The photos showing the feature were originally taken by the Viking spacecraft as it orbited Mars in July 1976. Analysis of the pictures revealed that one photo showed a raised feature that looked uncannily like a stylized human face and several nearby that resembled Egyptian-style pyramids. The pictures were released to the public in 1977 and were immediately controversial.

The most persistent supporter of the notion that the Cydonia features are designed structures is science writer and former television space consultant Richard Hoagland. Hoagland argues that the features seen on Mars are the remains of a once-mighty civilization that constructed the mounds and pyramids so that humans would eventually see them and know that their civilization existed. He also suggests that, as their world was dying, the Martians moved to the earth and performed genetic engineering upon humans. Like the faked moon landing proponents, Hoagland argues that the reason the pictures of the face were released to the public—when logically, if NASA was covering up, they would have made their own lives easier by just keeping the photos secret—were through the effort of unknown, but courageous whistle-blowers, who, while working on the inside, managed to slip the most important pictures ever taken past governm

Regal, Brian. "Face on Mars." Issues: Understanding Controversy and Society, ABC-CLIO, 2024, issues.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/1754074. Accessed 11 Jan. 2024.

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TOPIC LIBRARY
Reference Articles
conspiracy theories: space exploration
Mars Exploration Program
Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
Space Exploration
unidentified flying objects
Glossary Terms
Moon Hoax of 1835
Photos & Illustrations
Mars face
Mars face: Close up

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