Re: SUBJECT: PROOF OF LIFE ON MARS FILE: UFO1752
By: Eddie Wilson to All on Tue Feb 03 2026 07:07 am
THE "FACE ON MARS" - FOUR DECADES LATER
Authors: Ananda Sirisena1,Horace Crater2, Stanley V. McDaniel3 & Mark Carlotto4 Abstract
The anomalous characteristics of the so-called "Face on Mars" feature, as seen in the 1976 Viking image, were
debunked 20 years ago by reference to a 1998 image taken by the Mars Global surveyor. However ten years later,
in 2008, a far superior image was obtained that shows details consistent with the original of 1976. By means of
side-by-side comparisons, we show how this 2008 image gives an improvement in identification of the allegedly
anomalous details.
Introduction
It is over 40 years since the Viking orbiters photographed an unusual formation in a region of northern
Mars known as Cydonia. When an image published in 1998, processed by MSSS (Malin Space Science
Systems) effectively gave the 'kiss-of-death' to further study of the feature known as the "Face on
Mars", many researchers decided to leave the matter alone. However, in 2008, two MRO (Mars
Reconnaissance Orbiter) context camera (CTX) photographs were released but apparently not seriously
studied until now. This is a discussion about the facial features within one of the CTX images of 2008.
On the 31st July 1976, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) issued a Press
Release which stated the following: "NASA VIKING NEWS CENTER, PASADENA, CALIFORNIA
PHOTO CAPTION Viking 1-61, P-17384 (35A72)
This picture is one of many taken in the northern latitude of Mars by the Viking 1 Orbiter in search of a
landing site for Viking 2. The picture shows eroded mesa-like landforms. The huge rock formation in
the center, which resembles a human head, is formed by shadows giving the illusion of eyes, nose and
mouth. The feature is 1.5 kilometres (one mile) across, with the sun angle at approximately 20 degrees.
The speckled appearance of the image (including the nostril) is due to bit errors, emphasized by
enlargement of the photo. The picture was taken on July 25 from a range of 1873 kilometers (1162
miles). Viking 2 will arrive in Mars Orbit next Saturday (7 August 1976 ) with a landing scheduled for
early September."
[Figure 1 - Frame 35A72 - "HEAD". Taken from nearly overhead with a low afternoon Sun angle,
indicated by the long shadows.]
The number 35A72 was a reference to Viking 1 image 35A72, the seventy-second photo taken by the
'A' camera during orbit 35, captured on the 25th July 1976 (Figure 2). The feature, "which resembles a
human head" was discovered by Dr. Tobias Owen and became famous as "The Face on Mars". It's
discovery is well documented in the book, "The Search For Life In The Universe", by Donald A.
Goldsmith and Tobias Owen. (Ref. 1) In the ensuing years, the feature - captioned 'human head' and
related anomalies have received detailed study by several authors and have been referenced in various
publications. [Ref. 2 - 16]. A later image of the same facial feature was found on Viking 1 Frame
70A13, taken on 30th August, 1976 during orbit 70. See figures 2 and 3 below. [Figure 2]
The images, upon enhancement, appeared to show teeth-like features in the mouth (see Fig. 2 above).
In other words the formation, upon enhancement of two distinct images, appeared to look more
artificial. It would be twenty-two years before the feature was re-examined at higher resolution.
[Figure 3]
Events in 1995
In the meantime the question of the 'teeth' in the Face was addressed in more detail by NASA itself.
In 1995, Malin Space Science Systems, responsible for the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Orbiter
Camera (MOC), published an online article called "The Face on Mars", which discussed the results of
image enhancements, such as bit-error correction, contrast and brightness adjustment, reseau mark
removal and sharpening of digital images using bicubic interpolation, including a cautionary tale about
'teeth in the mouth' which had been reported earlier in conjunction with the 35A72 and 70A13 images.
These statements can be read at the following links :
http://www.msss.com/education/facepage/vikingproc.html http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/4_9_histo_release/index.html
Events in 1998
In 1998 an image was acquired by the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) that made the issue of facial
features more or less moot. On 6th April 1998, amidst a fanfare of publicity, NASA and Malin Space
Science systems released an image of the face taken by the MGS Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC). The
result was later posted here:
http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/4_6_98_face_release/index.html
[Figure 4 - NASA release of 5th April 1998 image. Low contrast made this feature look flat, featureless
and without three-dimensional depth. The lack of tonal detail is surprising.] Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS) stated that image processing had been applied to the image in
order to improve the visibility of features. This processing included the following steps:
1) The image was processed to remove the sensitivity differences between adjacent picture elements.
This removed the vertical streaking.
2) The contrast and brightness of the image was adjusted, and "filters" were applied to enhance detail at
several scales.
3) The image was then geometrically warped to meet the computed position information for a
mercator-type map. This corrected for the left-right flip, and the non-vertical viewing angle (about 45ø
from vertical), but also introduced some vertical "elongation" of the image - for the same reason that
Greenland looks larger than Africa on a mercator map of the Earth.
4) A section of the image, containing the "Face" and a couple of nearly impact craters and hills, was
"cut" out of the full image and reproduced separately, as seen above and below. MSSS stated in 1995:
"First, given the interest in the
general public about the "Face," it is
appropriate to acquire such images
for public relations purposes,
especially since the public interest
has been generated in no small way
by the people who claim there is a
conspiracy at NASA to withhold
information from the public. Second,
there are valid scientific reasons to
examine landforms in the area
(which, after all, is why the Viking
spacecraft were photographing the
area in the first place)."
MSSS stated: in 1998
"As can be seen, fortuitously, the
area imaged was relatively clear,
although the lack of surface
definition in many nearby areas, and
the low contrast of the raw MOC
high resolution image, suggests haze
or fog over much of the area."
[Figure 5 - Viking Frame 35A72 alongside the MOC image acquired on 5th April 1998]
Notice how much more detail appears to be implied in the older, lower resolution image of 1976,
compared to the 1998 release issued by MSSS.
Image taken in 2008
Shown below, is the MRO CTX image: B01_010143_2216, acquired on 24th September 2008, from a
distance of just over 311 km. This image has not been processed and is presented here as obtained from
the MRO HiRise website. (The incidence and emission angles are shown in Table 1.) It shows clearly
an 'eyeball' in the eye cavity and 'teeth' in the mouth area.
Center Lat 41.68; Center Lon 350.77
Local time 15.31
Incidence angle 47.95; Emission angle 18.08
Image Skew Angle 90.2; Phase Angle 65.97
Slant Distance 311.29 km
Image Acquisition Time 2008-09-24 T20:34:48.242
Scaled Pixel Width 6.53 m
Image ID: B01_010143_2216_XN_41N009W
[Table 1 - Ancillary data for CTX image acquired on 24th September 2008 by MRO] [Figure 6 - Comparison of 1976 Viking frame 35A72 with 2008 MRO CTX image B01_010143_2216]
[Figure 7 - Comparison of 1976 Viking frame 70A13 with 2008 MRO CTX image B01_010143_2216]
[All images courtesy of : NASA/MSSS (Malin Space Science Systems)/JPL (Jet Propulsion Lab)]
[Figure 8 - An enlargement of 2008 image B01_010143_2216]
Reconstruction of the Face on Mars by Mark Carlotto
A 3-D reconstruction of the feature was performed using a technique known as shape-from-shading.
https://intelligentgadgets.us/docX/sfsx.shtml
A 3-D reconstruction of the face allows one to view it at different angles and orientations. Furthermore
it allows one to construct time-dependent orientations so that one can imagine how the face would look
to a viewer flying around the face at various positions. Shape-from-shading (also known as
photoclinometry) is a method for estimating the shape of an illuminated surface from its image. For a
surface of constant albedo, the brightness at a point is related to the gradients at that point by the bi-
directional reflectance function. An elevation map can be estimated by integrating gradient information
in the direction of the sun. The elevation map is used to re-project the original image so that it can be
viewed from other look angles.
[Figure 9 - Comparison of raw data with contrast adjusted image for September 2008 picture]
[Figure 10 - Comparison of two images taken in 2008 by the MRO CTX camera.] 1976 VIKING 1
frame 35A72
1976 VIKING 2
frame 70A13
1998 MGS MOC
5 April 1998
image 22003
2008 MRO CTX
frame 24 Sept. 2008
B01_010143_2216
SUNAZ
degrees
294.28 277.04 Not available 174.91
INA degrees 79.93 62.59 25 47.95
S/C AZ degrees 169.05 139.54 Not available Not given
EMA degrees 10.58 12.42 Not available 18.08
SCM m/pixel 51.73 48.13 4.3 6.53
RANGE km 1873 1725 444 311
[Table 2]
NOTES for Table 2:
1) SUNAZ - Azimuth of sub-solar point. Azimuth of (direction to) North, measured clockwise from
zero line defined by a horizontal line drawn from the center of the image perpendicular to the right
edge.
2) INA - Incidence angle, angle between surface normal and direction to
sun, measured at the center of the image. (Sun zenith angle).
3) S/C AZ -Azimuth of sub-spacecraft point. Azimuth of (direction to) North, measured clockwise
from zero line defined by a horizontal line drawn from the center of the image perpendicular to the
right edge
4) EMA - Emission angle, angle between surface normal and direction to spacecraft, measured at the center of the image. (Spacecraft zenith angle).
5) SCM - Image scale; resolution in metres per pixel
6) RANGE - Space craft to frame center, distance in km
7) MGS MOC - Mars Global Surveyor Mars Observer Camera
8) MRO CTX - Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Context Camera
9) JPEG2000 - format for digital images specified by the Joint Photographic Experts Group
General discussion
Astonishing detail in the above images (Fig. 9), including what appear to be teeth in the mouth area,
suggest continued study of the "Face on Mars" is essential. If there is a chance that it represents a
hominid-type face, then the implications in the SETI are profound. All objects cast shadows. To say
that shadows create an "illusion" of eyes and mouth would be incorrect for this image. It is clear though
that one side of the facial feature is damaged. At 6.53 meters per pixel, this HiRise image, compared to
the near 50 meters per pixel of the 1976 Viking images, portrays a high-resolution photo which shows
the true shape of the "Face On Mars". We see an eyeball and teeth without any bicubic interpolation
enhancement. This study is as much about facial recognition - as it might be about recognition of an
alien artefact on Mars. What does one need to depict a face? An eye, a line for a nose and a mouth
would be sufficient - as many advertisers for consumer products have shown. Previous findings of 'teeth' in the mouth of the face on Mars, by Carlotto and others cannot be
dismissed out of hand (Ref. 7). Ananda Sirisena also found teeth in the mouth area during
enhancements done to the Viking image 35A72 in the 1990's although the findings were not published
at the time. The effect of the 1998 image of the facial feature, released by MSSS, has been to draw
mainstream attention away from a feature on Mars that could be of great cultural value to humanity and
to our future search for extraterrestrial intelligence. SETI will have to expand away from only a radio-
signal search to searching for planetary artefacts as a standard procedure. Perhaps our discovery of ETI
may be closer to home than we ever thought possible.
A comprehensive epistemological study was written in 1986 by Randolfo Pozos in his book, "The
Face On Mars - Evidence for a Lost Civilization? (Ref. 3). The question mark in his question asked -
and left it open for future research to provide an answer. Pozos states, "Is the "Face" on Mars a creation
of wishful thinking or is it actually our intelligent recognition of something very important?" He
reported, "One scientist had an immediate negative reaction to seeing the "Face" on Mars....nothing
more should be done on this topic....since it might prove the truth of religion which was, according to
his belief system, not possible."
In his book, Planetary Mysteries (Ref. 4), Richard Grossinger stated, about an extraterrestrial message,
"Actually a face is perfect. Compared to it, the Pioneer plaque is a lot of talk, a rather showy song and
dance. Arthur C. Clarke thought of a monolith and that was a good idea. But a face is even better. A
face says: if you are smart enough to find me, then you are smart enough to know that I don't belong
here........There couldn't be any more clear statement of: come and see me." The idea of the Face on
Mars being a calling card, or even an invitation to take a closer look at the whole region was taken up
by other writers. Former astronaut and lecturer at Cornell University, Dr. Brian O'Leary, in his book
"Mars 1999" (Ref. 5) summarised it thus, "Some scientists argue that intelligent intervention could not
have done anything as bizarre as creating a humanoid face on Mars, as this would violate our operating
paradigms in the SETI. I believe that such a view is overly narrow and that all reasonable inquiries into
possible manifestations of extraterrestrial intelligence are worth pursuing." Visceral reactions to the face on Mars exist even today, forty years after the discovery by Tobias Owen.
When Viking project scientist Gerald Soffen had shown the print of the Face in 1976, to the press corp
assembled at JPL, he had said, "Isn't it peculiar what tricks lighting and shadow can do. When we took
a picture a few hours later it all went away; it was just a trick, just the way the light fell on it." The truth
of the matter was that a few hours after frame 35A72 was taken, Cydonia would have been in total
darkness. Richard Hoagland recalls, in his book, "The Monuments of Mars - A City On The Edge of
Forever" (Ref. 6), "That afternoon so many years ago at JPL, as a group of press passed around copies
of the "head" photograph and laughed, someone had jokingly remarked that "the head is to tell us
where to land."
Where to land on Mars? Strangely enough, one of the places initially chosen for one of the Viking
landers to settle on the Martian surface was Cydonia - but it was not to be. The Viking 1 Lander
touched down in western Chryse Planitia. Viking 2 landed about 200 km west of the crater Mie in
Utopia Planitia. Both landers conducted three experiments each, in the search for microbial life,
Pyrolitic Release (PR), Gas Exchange (GEX) and Labelled Release (LR). Each carried a Gas
Chromatograph/Mass Spectrometer (GCMS). The results were surprising and interesting: Viking 1:
the GCMS gave a negative result; the PR gave a negative result, the GEX gave a negative result, and
the LR gave a positive result.. Viking 2: the results were both surprising and perplexing: the GCMS
gave a negative result; the PR gave a positive result, the GEX gave a negative result, and the LR gave a
positive result. The end results were three positive signals for life across the two sites. The GCMS has
been deemed not sensitive enough to detect organic compounds; a reinterpretation of the results now
suggests the samples did contain organics but the results were not understood because of the strong
oxidation effects of perchlorate, a salt now known to be found in Martian soils. This fact was reported
in Journal of Geophysical Research, 115, E12010, in 2010.
The extraordinary image processing work done by Mark Carlotto in 1988 and published in "Applied
Optics" (Ref. 7) showed the eye detail and teeth in the mouth as shown above in Figures 2 and 3. The
2008 images captured by the MRO confirm these details, predicted by Carlotto in 1998, ten years
earlier.
The Journal of Scientific Exploration, in 1991, published a paper by Vincent DiPietro, Greg Molenaar
and John Brandenburg espousing The Cydonia Hypothesis. The abstract read, "Evidence suggesting a
past humanoid civilization has been found at several sites on Mars. In particular, what appear to be
large carved faces, with similar details, have been found at two separate sites. Together with
geochemical and geological evidence that suggests Mars was once more Earth-like in climate, the
images of the objects support the Cydonia Hypothesis: that Mars once lived as the Earth now lives, and
that it was once the home of an indigenous humanoid intelligence."
In 1999, four members of the Society For Planetary SETI Research (SPSR) presented finding ice in
craters in Cydonia. Harry Moore, John Brandenburg, Steve Corrick & Ananda Sirisena showed
photographic evidence indicating ice within craters at a meeting of the American Geophysical Meeting
in the spring of 1999. (Ref. 12) NASA confirmed water ice on Mars on 22nd November 2016, reported
by JPL here:
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6680
A book by Laurence Bergreen (2000) - Voyage To Mars: NASA's Search For Life Beyond Earth (Ref.
14) adopted a sceptical outlook. He stated, "The Face, as everyone knows, is unworthy of discussion."
That is not a correct statement. He continues, "A tenacious little community of conspiracy buffs
considers this ordinary rock formation to be evidence - heck, it's proof! - of intelligent life on the Red
Planet, the handiwork of an ancient, lost civilization, and any new data from NASA concerning the
face is sure to attract their unwelcome attention". Despite these harsh words from Bergreen, we show
here that the new data from the MRO are indeed worthy of further scrutiny. Unwelcome or not,
scientists do follow the evidence, wherever it leads. The authors of this paper feel that the face is
worthy of continued study.
One author who has been terribly influenced by the MSSS issue of the flimsy 1998 image is Ben
Bova. In his 2004 book, "Faint Echoes, Distant Stars - The Science And Politics Of Finding Life
Beyond Earth (Ref. 18), he writes, "Mars Global Surveyor took up orbit around the red planet on
September 12, 1997 and began mapping the surface in unprecedented detail. As far as the public is
concerned, however, its biggest achievement was something of a letdown. In 1976, one of the
thousands of photos that the Viking orbiters had taken showed a rock formation that looked uncannily
like a human face. Some enthusiasts, including many UFO aficionados, leaped to the conclusion that
intelligent Martians had carved a monument similar to the carvings on Mount Rushmore. Skeptics
wondered how Martians could carve a likeness of a human head, but the enthusiasts began to see not
only "the face" in Viking photos but pyramids and whole cities, as well. Global Surveyors's sharper
cameras showed that "the face" on Mars was actually nothing more than a heavily eroded mesa. The
enthusiasts were not pleased." At least, Ben Bova does not deny that the massif does look uncannily
like a face, unlike many others who have denied that it looks like a face and have suggested that one
can "see things" that do not exist. What Bova's opinion will be to the 2008 images should prove to be
rather interesting. Notice the statement, "as far as the public is concerned." Is Ben Bova not a member
of the public? Is he not a member of the human race?
In 1979, three years after the Viking orbiters and landers, a daring suggestion was made in a paper by
Hiromitsu Yokoo & Tairo Hoshima (1979) - "Is Bacteriophage
X174 DNA A Message From An
Extraterrestrial Intelligence?" - Icarus 38, 148-153
20) Christopher Rose, Gregory Wright; (2004) "Inscribed Matter As An Energy Efficient Means of
Communication With An Extraterrestrial Civilization" - Letters to Nature, 431, 47
21) The Society for Planetary SETI Research (SPSR), has two films (of a few seconds duration) on its
website, links below, (in the Film and Video Archive) - titled :
"Face On Mars 3-D Reconstruction" by Dr. Mark Carlotto. From MRO CTX camera raw data of
Image taken on 24 September 2008"
http://spsr.utsi.edu/video/face.html
22) "Contrast Enhanced 3-D film of the 2008 image of the Face On Mars" rendered by Ananda
Sirisena
http://spsr.utsi.edu/video/facece.html
23) Jason Wright (2017) - Prior Indigenous Technological Species -, Astro-Physics, April 2017
Authors
1)Former consultant at Symantec Corporation, Reading, United Kingdom, RG4 6UA (
anandals@aol.com)
2)The University of Tennessee Space Institute, Tullahoma,TN (
hcrater@utsi.edu) 3)Department of Philosophy, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, California 4)Gloucester Innovation- 8 Milne Way - Gloucester MA 01930 (
mark@carlotto.us)
link is here
http://spsr.nmcc.edu/media/download_gallery/FaceOnMars4DecadesLate r.pdf
Denise
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