Continued
Continued
4-21-98
New Imaging Opportunity
NASA has announced its plans for the MGS's third Cydonia photo opportunity. The projected image-strip includes portions of the City Pyramid as well as the Fort. Stanley McDaniel, writing in the latest installment to his online newsletter, argues that the MGS should attempt to reimage the Fort in its entirety. While this would be ideal, one must keep in mind the uncertainty of the MGS's projected targets. While the Face was successfully photographed on its first attempt, the second attempt to photograph the City Square was off by over a kilometer. In other words, NASA's tentative plans to image only portions of two Martian anomalies has a significantly wider margin of error than McDaniel's scenario.
The Fort is located at the extreme edge of the City complex; even a near-miss could result in an image-strip bereft of interest to anomaly researchers. In contrast, the near-miss on the 14th resulted in the identification of several other (and in some cases, completely unexpected) features. If McDaniel's alternative is adopted, then we must accept something of a gamble, whereas the official plan is likely to produce tantalizing images even if it misses its intended target.
Bright Lines
Almost directly above the "coathanger" feature is a similar band of bright lines. The most plausible geological explanation is that they are rivulets of sand blown off from the adjacent landmass or some other product of erosion. But rather than spreading out as sand formations would likely do when subjected to prolonged Martian winds, these features appear to descend/ascend a small elevated plateau. Seen from the ground, these features might give the impression of columns. Their regularity of spacing is compelling, especially in the context of the nearby "coathanger."
Regularly spaced lines located above the "coat-hanger" formation.
4-22-98
Mound P Again
If Mound P's function is to illustrate some geometric principle, then it's reasonable to assume that its alignment was not a random decision. If Mound P's angle can be found to reinforce the Mound Geometry Hypothesis, it will become increasingly tempting to attribute this and other formations to intelligent design.
Mound P: evidence of symmetry.
Indeed, a line drawn through Mound P's center intersects the upper area of the Face, many kilometers away. While this is interesting, it's quite possibly inevitable as well, given the sheer number of small anomalous landforms in the Cydonia region. On the other hand, Mound P's shape leads one to think it was intended to serve as a marker of some sort.
4-24-98
City Pyramid Photographed
The third image has arrived: another miss, albeit a fairly close one. Instead of imaging part of the City Pyramid and part of the Fort, as intended, the MGS imaged the City Pyramid almost in its entirety. Like the D&M Pyramid, the City Pyramid shows tantalizing evidence of possible buried substructures. At the base of the lower-right facet is a "U"-shaped "bracket." The ramp-like feature visible on the Viking frames descends the pyramid's upper-left flank and is joined by a similar, shallower feature. Taken together, these features form an elongated trianglar "shaft." Just above this feature is a straight line. The left border of the pyramid is shrouded in debris.
The next agenda for anomaly researchers is to convince NASA to continue its commendable agenda to rephotograph Cydonia until, as Administrator Daniel Goldin recently promised, "everyone is satisfied."
City Square Imaged As Well
The City Square. Note similarity between the formation on the upper-left and Mound P.
The most immediate disappointment in the new image of the City Square is the absence of the center mound seen in the Viking photos. However, the four existing mounds are not without interest. The long mound to the upper-left is similar to Mound P, it consisting of two narrow, flat slopes joined in the middle, with each end.
4-25-98
"Nazca" Design?
The flat, wind-scoured terrain north of the City complex at first seems featureless and uninteresting. But a careful examination yields some eye-opening results, such as the following feature, a decorative equilateral triangle (?) that recalls the designs in Nazca, Peru.
A triangular, glyph-like formation north of the Main Pyramid.
The central equilateral formation is part of a larger complex of features. Extending around the pictured formation is another triangle. This triangle, not as clearly defined as the inset formation, is apparently dug out of the Martian surface. The apparent excavation encroaches on a nearby crater rim.
Possible Structure Within "City Square"
The Pictogram is not the only anomalous triangle in the region. Careful scrutiny of the lower-right feature in the City Square reveals a small triangular feature with raised walls and an enclosed interior space. The feature's small size argues against its being the result of faulting. Additionally, the mound-like feature in question shows signs of possible structural degradation.
Small triangular feature in the City Square.
The presence of the triangle increases interest in the City Square, which had been essentially dismissed in a critique by Stanley McDaniel. I can't help but feel that McDaniel is focusing on some of the least interesting anomalies. In particular, the square-bottomed crater he mentions appears perfectly circular in my own working copy of the MGS image swath.
3-12-00
Back Online
Two years have passed since I was last able to update this site. Needless to say, much has changed, offline and on. The McDaniel Report website has vanished (although McDaniel mentioned in a recent email that a new incarnation was forthcoming, along with a revised, post-MGS version of SPSR's "The Case for the Face"). Mark Carlotto has continued to provide us with remarkable and telling perspective shots that confirm the hypothesis that some of the Cydonia formations are artificial in origin.
A team of astronauts studies the Martian surface in a not-unforeseeable future.
Politically, Cydonia research is in shambles. NASA/JPL has lost two Mars probes: the Mars Climate Orbiter, which promised to provide us with data on Mars' possible extinct biome, and the Mars Polar Lander, which would have been the first craft to touch down on the Martian surface since the popular and successful Pathfinder mission.
Possibly even more depressing is NASA's feigned ignorance of administrator Dan Goldin's promise to rephotograph the region until "everyone is satisfied." My letter to NASA inquiring on this matter met with the utterly erroneous statement that new photographs [sic] of the face had been taken that had conclusively shown it to be a natural geological formation. That the media has swallowed NASA's uneducated verdict should not come as any surprise to those of us who have tracked this story since its modern inception.
Interestingly, Malin Space Science Systems did in fact rephotograph a portion of the Main City Pyramid. This was unannounced and the camera contractor's motives for aiming the MOC at Cydonia was never specified, even though the image was made public. The Society for Planetary SETI Research notes the presence of probable water ice visible in the new photo.
Probable water ice in a crater adjacent to the Main City Pyramid. This remarkable find was discovered by SPSR, a private research effort, and given little if no exposure by NASA despite the promising implications.
Things don't have to remain in limbo, however. The Mars Society is actively petitioning for a manned mission to the Red Planet by 2010--a reasonable and fruitful goal that promises much, artifacts at Cydonia or not. And the Cydonia underground, such as it is, continues to seek audience with NASA to present the evidence garnered from the MGS mission.
