Haunting images from Mars

James, Nashville, TN — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 06:47:38 GMT

You never know if the Face on Mars could have been made with the purpose of it looking like a face from above in a certain light only. Although I have begun to think it's natural for some time, we won't know until we send either a remote-controlled camera (similar to Opportunity/Spirit) or a human there to really examine and analyze the Face on Mars and the surrounding areas.

Haunting images from Mars

Gaetano Marano - Italy — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 09:32:28 GMT

.

the Lockheed-Martin Corp. CEO Robert Stevens said in an interview that he have fear the U.S. is in danger of "ceding our spaceflight leadership to Russia, China and even India":

http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/
showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=1HFIEDFC5O5VGQS
NDLRCKH0CJUNN2JVN?articleID=198900572

so, why don't build the new hardware FASTER ?

my latest suggestion is to use the ready available Vulcain 2 engine for the Ares-I 2nd stage and the Ares-V EDS to SAVE several hundreds million$ and 4+ years of R&D time

the Vulcain 2 already has the required vacuum thrust (303,490 lbs.) that a J-2x just "hope to have" at the end of its (very long) R&D trip (295,000 lbs.)

a further suggestion is to build an "Ares-F" with the Ariane5-derived hardware:

http://www.gaetanomarano.it/articles/024aresF.html

following this way, the first manned Orion flight will happen in 2012 as planned in the early (not delayed) ESAS timeline

.

Haunting images from Mars

Dean Monroe — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 11:39:15 GMT

Well gee, that photo (of the 'tornado') explains a lot.

The reason there is no life of Mars is because, as the photo shows, there are no tornado warning sirens. Hence, when previous tornadoes approached without warning, the Martianites never had a chance to seek shelter.

As the photo clearly depicts, the entire planet was desecrated by the storm and there's nowhere left for them to live.

Dude - you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure these things out.

Next quandary?

Haunting images from Mars

Thomas Ashby, Calgary — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 15:11:31 GMT

My gawd, it's an eroded Dr. Zaius from Planet of the Apes! (1968)

http://hiroc.lpl.arizona.edu/images/PSP/PSP_003234_2210/
PSP_003234_2210_RED.thumb.jpg

http://www.losrauncheros.com/chimps.html

Haunting images from Mars

Thomas Ashby, Calgary — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 15:19:21 GMT

It appears that our rover friends are on the brink of doing all they possibly can do. I can't see things getting any better than Victoria crater. The geolo gies and environments at the 2 locations have been scrutinized and that's as good as it going to get, which is totally fabulous. There are few words left to describe the overwhelming success of the rover missions. Incidentally, I have never heard or read squat about the daily or yearly meteorology. I wonder where that information is available.

Haunting images from Mars

Chris Reeve, San Francisco, CA — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 21:33:47 GMT

There's additional discussion of the electrical nature of Martian and Earthly dust devils available here:

http://www.thunderbolts.info/
tpod/2005/arch05/050916dustdevil.htm

http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/
2005/arch05/050322dustdevils.htm

http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/
2005/arch05/050321electridevils.htm

http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/
2005/arch05/050721dustdevils.htm

http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/
2005/arch05/050330tornado-electric-discharge.htm

http://www.peter-thomson.co.uk/tornado/fusion/
Charge_sheath_vortex_basics_for_tornado.html

Haunting images from Mars

Lyle W. La Faver (Middletown, CA.) — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 21:41:15 GMT

The face picture, shown above, has what appears to be a ramp up the side of it. The three near-equally spaced craters on three corners of the photo add to the effect this is not a natural phenomenen. Fascinating! But then, fascinating have been all the Mars photos!

Haunting images from Mars

LTM Las Vegas, Nevada — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 00:19:57 GMT

I want my next car built by the guys that made those little Mars Rovers. If those little pioneering bots can last this long on an alien planet through those kind of conditions and they're still sending back data; that engineering team deserves high praise indeed.

Haunting images from Mars

John Doe, Seattle, Wash. — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 01:12:15 GMT

The "face" is actually the remnant of the last refuge of the Margonites, a race of small but advanced humanoid creatures, who ignored global warming signs until, without warning, the atmosphere started to bleed from the planet due to excessive heat. The "face" mountain became the tomb of the Margonites as suplies of stored oxygen ran out some sixteen thousand earth-years ago. An entrance chamber can be found beneath the left eye. An Interstellar Monitor Underground [radio] Station(Imus)was operational until recently. It ceased its transmissions without warning, due to excessive heat generated through spurious radio transmissions.

Haunting images from Mars

Tim White, DeRidder, LA — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 01:14:38 GMT

Take the photo, turn it upside down and there is a typical alien face, big eyes pointy chin and wide forhead. So they tricked us into seeing the Human face or were we just that self centered? Hmmm?

Haunting images from Mars

Rusty W., Sherman, TX. — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 04:48:39 GMT

Alright, so in a fuzzy image from the dark ages the "face" on Mars appears to be humanoid. But why must we always try to assume extraterrestrial life would resemble us in any way, shape, fashion, or form (i.e. two eyes, nose, mouth)? It wouldn't (and shouldn't) at all surprise me to discover that we're as "human" as it gets in our corner of the universe.

Haunting images from Mars

Donny LLahma of great wisdom; Fawntucky, Ca. 92336 — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 05:06:30 GMT

I swear; as I went through my sliding glass door onto the balcony; looking up at the cloud formations whizzing by, heading for Big Bear Mountain where my brother john live, that I saw faces - animals - slot machines - SUVs. I grabbed my Binoculars and focused on them. Just then a flying object appeared before me eyes - it had landing pods and seemingly was about to alight on a surfing board. Dang; I wasabout to call this in to mcscb when the object swung around and stung me on the nose. Dag-Nab it! So much for my roving on the balcony!

Haunting images from Mars

Bob Littleton, Allenton MN — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 05:29:12 GMT

Turned upside down and softened, it resembles Madonna and child to me. More like a gigantic religious medallion.

Haunting images from Mars

franz kafka — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 05:34:40 GMT

So when we do find life can we send all the missionaries straight away to convert them. I understand it will be a long flight.

Haunting images from Mars

Mark Belleisle belfast ME — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 06:43:57 GMT

Maybe if they searched the side of mars opposite of the face they would find a nice pair of mountains that look just like feet.so much for the face theory. I think that tabloids would love this!

Haunting images from Mars

Proffessor Oak, Funkytown, CA — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 09:33:36 GMT

Theres speculation that the "face" shot is actually a left over monument from the Simian Era of mars, which everyone knows is when ape like mammals ruled the martians for almost seven decades.

Haunting images from Mars

Gritte Fritter TN — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 14:16:17 GMT

This face is obviously the handiwork of none other than Bruno Hauptman. The footprint of a ladder is clearly visible in the upper right corner.

Haunting images from Mars

Mark — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 15:43:33 GMT

Now that we know there is enough water, probably one set of Martians will be Earthlings that have lived there so long or maybe two or three generations down of low gravity adapted people they can't live with Earth gravity. Second wild thing is that inside, with Earth density atmosphere to breathe but low, Martian gravity, people could strap on wings and fly indoors on muscle power alone.

Haunting images from Mars

Gaetano Marano - Italy — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 15:55:21 GMT

.

really, I can't believe how the "Mars' Face" is still used as an evidence of extraterrestrial/martian life and of ancient civilizations (maybe, due the giant lack of better ET evidences in the ufologists' hands... :) since...

1. the image is very far to resemble an human face (and we must be very optimist or use our best imagination to "see" it)

2. we will deeply investigate the day we'll land on Mars (of course) but, so far, it seems ONLY a mountain, NOT a "manufact", then, its shape is only a coincidence (like hundreds existing on earth)

3. assuming it's a face really "built" (e.g.) one billion years ago by an ET civilization (something like the Mount Rushmore National Memorial) it should have the face of the (one-bililions-ago) MARTIANS and NOT of the (to-day's) TERRESTRIALS

4. the mountain (itself) has its face-shape from BILLIONS years, while we have our "current" (similar) face just from a few THOUSANDS years (the face of our forefathers was VERY different)

5. as a consequence, if it is the image of a terrestrial, the martians must have "built" the giant sculpture just a few thousands years ago (after an earth trip... :) and a few thousands/hundreds years before their extinction... but, if that's true, where are the martians' cities, highways, airports, skyscrapers (etc.) lost after the extinction? (like those of Maya, Incas, etc.)

etc.

.

Haunting images from Mars

JC, Fairbanks, AK — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 17:35:59 GMT

Mark: "We" already have, and it wasn't feet we found antipodal to the face [:)].

http://asuaf.org/~johnc/MarsButt.html

http://asuaf.org/~johnc/MarsButtPoster.html

-Personally I think the HiRise team was just trying to set off another round of wild-eyed conspiracy theorizing by the usual crowd.

-The loss of MGS is unfortunate, especially the way it happened (human error again!?), but it operated for almost a DECADE, and we now have 2 other orbitters in place.

-The Rovers (and in fact the whole REAL exploration arm of the US' space program) have indeed done amazing things. Spacecraft and rovers are typically built by teams of engineers and scientists assembled specially for the purpose.

Haunting images from Mars

Otto Wustle — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 02:14:05 GMT

It just looks like Al Gore to me.

Haunting images from Mars

ZF, Sterling, VA — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 02:27:44 GMT

the photos are amazing in that they're of someplace SOOOO far away! however . . . the declarations, postulations, and suppositions regarding just what it is we're looking at seem little different to me than some of lewis' & clarke's records of new sights they were seeing. don't you just know that some day people will look back at our explorations and smile at how terribly, terribly little we actually were right about = )

Haunting images from Mars

Mike Maxwell — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 03:20:09 GMT

Franz-- As for the missionaries, you may be interested in 'The Sparrow' and 'Children of God', both by Mary Doria Russell. And yes, both are science fiction.

Haunting images from Mars

Des Emery,The Carborundum Chronicles,St.Thomas,ON,Canada — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 03:23:14 GMT

Hi, Alan -- wouldn't you know that 'the face' would attract more attention than Chris Reeve's discourse on the electrical nature of space and the 'dust devils' of Mars? Don't we have enough images of people and their various parts replicated in rocks and trees and showing up in half-eaten sandwiches, potato chips and stained-glass windows already?

Haunting images from Mars

Lou Kravitz — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 06:41:23 GMT

We are the only human beings in the entire UNIVERSE!!!

Haunting images from Mars

Peter King Hereford England [The UK one] — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 10:13:59 GMT

Maybe the face of Mars used to look like a face, but over time it's been eroded to that. it is truly a case of sending probes actually there, or people there

i know they say it will take years for people to fly to the moon, but surely the longer we take to send someone the longer it will be until they are there

Haunting images from Mars

Hunter Jacksonville Fl — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 21:02:41 GMT

Why waste time going to Mars? Why don't we get a family of healthy people who agree to go on a one way trip up and out? They can send radio signals to beacons they leave along the way that will send the feeds back to earth. they know they won't come back but we can send a woman who is pregnant. they can be accompanied by a doctor who will perform the birth. we then have the first person born in space and the next generation of pilot for the ship. all they have to do is keeping sending radio signals. i know i know the variables that would prevent something like this from actually working would be astronimcal. (get it, astronomical!) But i am certain we could find willing participants, so many in fact that if we started pumping out nuclear powered space ships, we would have people standing in lines waiting on their one way trip to spatial enlightenment.

Haunting images from Mars

James, Nashville, TN — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 04:25:28 GMT

To add to my original comment above:

There's also a possibility that the Face on Mars could have simply evolved and degraded over time and not look too much like it had originally.

I really think NASA should have dropped one of the robotic rovers near the Face on Mars. There's all kinds of interesting things in the Cydonia region of Mars. I'm sure NASA will do something in that area eventually.

Haunting images from Mars

JC, Fairbanks, AK — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 08:23:11 GMT

Des Emery makes a GREAT point! For people interested, here:

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2005-061

are multiple images (NOT video) of dust devils passing across the field of view of the SPIRIT Rover. Be warned! You will need much more than my own 0.0 kB/sec stone-age dial-up technology unless you have several hours on your hands to view them. As far as studies of electrical activity generated by these things, there IS writing about it in the professional literature (Geophysical Research Letters, J. of Geophysical Research, Icarus). Subscriptions to these are WAY out of the reach of Mere Mortals like me, but not beyond university libraries ..however I must point out that concise versions of a lot of planetary science, especially "cutting-edge" stuff, appears in proceedings of the Lunar & Planetary Science Conferences before it’s published, and freely available on-line at:

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/abstracts.shtml

Unfortunately it’s not very ‘searchable’….

Also see: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/ (the Lunar and Planetary Institute’s homepage).

Haunting images from Mars

Gaetano Marano - Italy — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 12:10:55 GMT

.

Hunter said... "we can send a woman who is pregnant"

I think it's better to conceive the baby while flying to Mars... having (also) something pleasant to do during the boring six-months' trip... :)

PS - I'm ready to sacrifice myself for science flying (now!) to Mars with Giselle Bundchen to accomplish the 1st-Mars-baby mission/experiment... :)

.

Haunting images from Mars

Des Emery,The Carborundum Chronicles,St.Thomas,ON,Canada — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 04:29:37 GMT

JC of Fairbanks -- many thanks for the info about other links -- I have explored them briefly but will return -- you're so right on "searchability" but I do have the time. Your previous contributions to Alan's blog here during the few months that I have waded into the conversation have been appreciated.

Haunting images from Mars

Bev, NB — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 09:43:03 GMT

Two things raced into my mind when i saw the face image.........1. Great Serpent Mounds (Ohio River?) and...........2. The Virgin Mary

Haunting images from Mars

Gaetano Marano - Italy — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 17:03:39 GMT

.

this is a further (important) point about the Mars' Face:

6. OUR (vague!) resemblance with the (one+ billions years old) Mars' Face is (ONLY) due to the fact that our evolution comes from MONKEYS, but, if the evolution of our (sometimes intelligent... :) specie were from (e.g.) reptiles or cetaceans, now we should search a Lizard-shaped or a Dolphin-shaped mountain... (while the Mars' Face would be ONLY a very common Mars' mountain, like thousands others)

.

Haunting images from Mars

JC, FBX, AK — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 05:25:26 GMT

'scholar.google.com' can be a powerful help, Des Emery. Try the string: ""mars "dust devil" electric"" on it (I wonder what the N.S.A. will make of THAT when Google passes it on to them . . .). LPSC and other meeting abstracts are included there.

Haunting images from Mars

Derick Striker, Scottsdale, AZ — Fri, 11 May 2007 18:35:37 GMT

Its simple, martians are invisable! thats why we can't see them. They're watching us right now!

Haunting images from Mars

Jane Butler, Mobile, Alabama — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 21:59:21 GMT

I would like to get people thinking about a solar Car.
If we can make a piece of equipment work millions of miles away with no oil or electricity with the sun providing the whatever to make it work,If our scientist put their heads together, they could get it done Horay for usa