The Electric Warrior : Mars Online May 25, 2001
http://www.electricwarrior.com/mol/

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2001 MARS FACE ENDS SPECULATION, INVITES INQUIRY
by The Electric Warrior

NASA has released a new high resolution photograph of the
enigmatic Face on Mars. The new image was captured early last
month, in response to a legal demand by a space exploration
activist group called FACETS (Formal Action Committee for

Extra-Terrestrial Studies).

According to a letter from Dr. Edward J. Weiler, the space
agency's Associate Administrator for Space Science, NASA
responded to the FACETS request by ensuring that the highest
possible resolution images of the Cydonia "face" feature were
acquired.

"The newly released Cydonia observations reveal an intriguing
mesa-like feature not unlike those found in the Southwestern
USA, with geologic features than can be attributed to processes
in multiple places on Mars," wrote Weiler.

In a March 16 letter to NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin,
FACETS attorney Peter Gersten wrote, "About a dozen features
in an area known as Cydonia, after an independent analysis,
were considered artificial by some respected scientists." Gersten
was retained by the group last summer, when FACETS undertook
an online petition campaign to re-image Cydonia.

The official response letter to FACETS said that NASA welcomes
a variety of opinions about the origin of the enigmatic features
on Mars, but also flatly stated, "At present the Scientific
advisory committees that formally advise NASA have not
interpreted the Cydonia feature as evidence of extraterrestrial
intelligence."

The Associated Press agreed with Weiler, in a caption distributed
with NASA's new Mars Face image, "This new picture, taken by
a camera aboard the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft on April 8,
2001, shows the area in far sharper detail, but reduces any
resemblance to a humanlike extraterrestrial."

Earlier this year NASA approved an extended mission for MGS,
which began on February 1 and is scheduled to run through
April 2002. According to Malin Space Science Systems, which
designed and operates the Mars Orbital Camera (MOC) for NASA,
the image was captured on the first opportunity to turn the
spacecraft and point the MOC at the popular Face on Mars feature.

Until now, the eastern side of the Martian landform had never
been adequately imaged by either MGS or Viking missions,
having been either obscured from view or unresolved in deep
shadow. A clear shot of the eastern half was considered crucial
in order to determine whether the Face is symmetrical.

Championing the artificiality hypothesis, Richard Hoagland's
Enterprise Mission Web site recently stated, "Without a clear
shot of the Eastern half, or even a lower resolution image of the
entire Face from a full overhead view, this issue will never be
settled in the minds of most observers."

According to FACETS founder and director, David Jinks,
speculations about what this side of the Face might contain are
now resolved. "The image clearly shows a slumping, largely
amorphous eastern half, which is devoid of most detail we
suspected we might see there."

Jinks says FACETS' main purpose is to have the subject of
extraterrestrial life, whether in the form of microbes or super-
intelligent beings, taken seriously in the court of science. He
feels that FACETS succeeded in forcing the space agency to
set aside its biases, and gather observational evidence. "My
goal in forming FACETS was to get more data. We have gotten
it."

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RELATED RESOURCES

Highest-Resolution View of "Face on Mars"
http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/extended_may2001/face/index.html

The Formal Action Committee for Extra-Terrestrial Studies (FACETS)
http://www.infosourceresearch.com/

Face it -- It is a Face
http://www.enterprisemission.com/about.htm

Unmasking the Face on Mars
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast24may_1.htm?list126396

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THE ELECTRIC WARRIOR
May 25, 2001
Silicon Valley, CA
http://www.electricwarrior.com

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