Continued
Continued
3-17-01
Shape-from-Shading Offers Perspective View of "Glass Tunnel"
The "glass tunnel" seen by the Mars Global Surveyor.
Preliminary stereoscopic rendering of the "glass tunnel" by Chris Joseph. Relax eyes and images will fuse to provide three-dimensional relief.
Chris Joseph is undertaking a closer look at the Martian "tubes," partly in an attempt to demonstrate whether or not they are convex or concave features. It's probably impossible to determine if these features are artificial based on images taken from orbit. Mars has presented the scientific community with many unexpected oddities, from the "Swiss cheese" polar landscape to the "bubble-wrap" terrain identified by Efrain Palermo. Are we looking at yet more exotic Martian real-estate? Or are the "tubes" the remains of an alien infrastructure?
"This was so incredibly easy to do," writes Joseph of producing the stereoscopic image. "If not for the lack of better sample data, all I seem to be missing is proper calibration."
The new stereogram was produced using the same algorithm used to produce this rendering. (Surface coloration is purely artistic.)
The elevation of the ridges (above) appears in keeping with what can be discerned from the much more dune-like examples of "tube" terrain. Even taking possible minor elevation discrepancies into account, Joseph's new image appears to accurately reflect the features under investigation.
A brief hunt through the MGS data shows that the impression of actual three-dimensional "tubes" is the exception rather than the rule, with most of the anomalous formations resembling the irregular bright stripes below.
Proponents of artificiality claim that the less-impressive nature of features associated with the "glass tunnel" are merely highly damaged and eroded segments. The "squiggles" to the far left of this image are especially difficult to reconcile with a structural origin.
So what are we looking at? The bright features to the far left of the stereogram appear to be descending the ravine wall, a trait not at all consistent with artificiality. The portion boasting the so-called "reflective sphere" is seen poking up out of the ravine, catching sunlight in a way that produces the illusion of a bright object "plugging" the alleged "tube" when seen from overhead.
There is no doubt that the Martian "tunnels" are three-dimensional features. But seen from Joseph's revealing angle, they appear markedly less cylindrical. They're certainly not "dunes" in any recognizable usage of the term. But while an exotic explanation might be in order, the jump to "artificiality" is unwarranted pending future insights.
3-20-01
New Martian Stain Features Discovered
Caught in the act: a fresh equatorial Martian stain.
The new discovery of fresh Martian stains by Jill England demonstrates that these puzzling phenomena represent an ongoing process on the Martian surface, most likely attributable to leaking subsurface water.
Also, Space.com has reported the probable identification of the Mars Polar Lander, believed crashed. The lander went silent in 1999. Preliminary reports based on high-resolution Mars photos suggest the spacecraft landed on its tripod as intended. Its abrupt silence remains a mystery.
3-23-01
The Electric Warrior Gets to the Root of the Matter
This artistic rendering by eWarrior presents the Martian "tubes" as enormous organic tendrils.
Kurt Jonach of The Electric Warrior has presented a startling and well-conceived theory to explain the Martian "tubes." According to Jonach, the tube-like formations might be portions of a ground-hugging root system, comparable to that of a terrestrial rhizome. Jonach's "Organic Hypothesis" is a novel and welcome addition to the debate over the origin of these strange formations.
3-24-01
NASA Facing Unprecedented Legal Challenge Regarding Possible Artifacts
For Immediate Release -- Contact: David Jinks, Director, FACETS
March 23, 2001
Olympia, WA - A space exploration activist group, the Formal Action Committee for Extraterrestrial Studies (FACETS), has taken the first step toward possible legal action against the U.S. space agency for an alleged failure to follow through with earlier promises involving imagery of Mars acquired by the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS).
FACETS has retained the services of Arizona attorney Peter A. Gersten, best known for his successful Freedom of Information Act challenges against the National Security Agency and Central Intelligence Agency in the early 1980s.
A demand letter written by Gersten on behalf of FACETS was recently sent to NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin. The letter asks NASA to train the MGS camera on targets deemed highly anomalous by a number of scientists, including former U.S. Naval Observatory astronomer Dr. Thomas Van Flandern, former Massachusetts Institute of Technology engineer Eugene Mallove and renowned futurist Sir Arthur C. Clarke.
NASA has 30 days to respond to the letter, copies of which was also sent to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the California Institute of Technology, Malin Space Science Systems, Sen. John McCain, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and all major television and radio news networks.
Among FACETS' complaints against the space agency are allegations that NASA encouraged withholding and misrepresentation of MGS imagery.
FACETS is currently soliciting input from all persons, particularly former or current NASA employees, who may have information relevant to the potential lawsuit. Persons interested in joining FACETS are encouraged to e-mail the group at contact@InfoSourceResearch.com [No longer a valid email address].
4-1-01
Vegetation on Mars?
Arthur C. Clarke's provocative statements about probable vegetation on Mars have inspired a rash on online speculation. Most of this has taken the form of analysis of the alleged "tubes." Consequently, the equally bizarre Martian "bushes" have been all-but-overshadowed.
In the image below, Clarke's "bushes" appear in relative isolation. Note shadowing, indicating that these formations are elevated.
True to terrestrial forests, these leafy-looking formations procede to "clump" together until the field covered by the MGS camera reveals a landscape of dense "foliage."
To my mind, Clarke's proposed "bushes" are strong candidates for relatively simple extant organisms thriving on the Martian surface. Challengers of the organic hypothesis note that these mysterious formations are located near the Martian south pole -- not far from where the silenced Mars Polar Lander apparently came to rest, maddeningly intact on its landing gear. Why would Martian plantlife thrive in a polar region instead of the equatorial belt, where liquid water exists in the form of short-lived "stains"?
Two "stains" intersect in this rare image located by Efrain Palermo.
Perhaps the abundant "bushes" thrive by extracting water from icy deposits beneath the unassuming polar terrain. Their dark coloration would help to concentrate sunlight in order to melt permafrost.
There are other, perhaps equally provocative, candidate lifeforms visible in photos taken by the Mars Global Surveyor. For example, the dark spots below may represent hardy fungal colonies.
Mounting evidence indicates that Mars is a more hospitable planet than previously accepted by the planetary science community. As our perception of the "Red Planet" evolves, it is hoped that these first tantalizing glimpses of possible life may help sway our bias toward an image of an unexpectedly green planet.
Almost needless to say, the detection of macroscopic lifeforms on Mars would necessitate a crewed mission. Perhaps NASA's disturbing silence regarding features such as the ones shown above indicates the current political bias against manned spaceflight.
4-5-01
More Possible Martian Structures
A Martian building? Note strange, faceted edges.
Keith Laney has identified an exotic region on Mars that is filled with anomalies: tantalizing variations of the "tubes" mentioned previously and architectural-looking formations that suggest reasonably intact buildings.
Analysis of these formations is just beginning. One candidate for their formation -- if they are natural -- is that they were carved by running water. However, their overall resemblance to artificial structures is difficult to shake.
Dr. Tom Van Flandern Loses Face at Press Conference
This morning, astronomer and SPSR member Dr. Tom Van Flandern addressed the Washington Press Club, intending to present the strong evidence favoring the existence of extraterrestrial artifacts on Mars. He failed -- not for lack of evidence, but for a curious need to embellish imaginary profiles on the planet's surface.
In his slide presentation, available online as part of his otherwise commendable Meta Research website, Van Flandern presents wildly implausible "artistically reconstructed" images showing what he perceives as a giant "bird" (which I still can't seem to make out, even with the artistic enhancement...), a few curved lines he construes as a giant portrait of a "child," and a credibility-straining "seahorse" sculpture created by viewing portions of a landform in convenient isolation.
Typical example of alleged "artifact" from Van Flandern's presentation. Creatures and characters of all sorts can easily be imagined on the Martian surface with the help of some "highlighting," as this illustration demonstrates.
This unforgivable technique, which Van Flandern relies on again and again during his presentation, is best compared to taking a giant cookie-cutter to the Martian surface in such a way as to produce any desired "anomaly." So there's no wonder Van Flandern sees so many enigmatic shapes on Mars; armed with enough perceptual cookie-cutters, it's easy enough to populate Mars with just about anything.
Deer, complete with antlers? Van Flandern's got one (with the dubious aid of an overlaid drawing).
An Egyptian queen with ceremonial headdress? She's there, too -- albeit in murky profile in need of some strategic digital retouching.
To Van Flandern's credit, he addresses the Face -- but only in relatively cursory detail, and completely ignoring the confirming partial image taken in 2000, which clearly shows the "eyeball" feature predicted by Vincent DiPietro.
Van Flandern explores the "tubes" with some success, making a sound argument for a possible structural origin. He also looks closely at the similar bright lines abundant in Cydonia, notably on top of the Cliff and at the edge of the City Pyramid. But for all of the genuine mysteries addressed, Van Flandern's main concerns appear to be vague, improbable "faces" and fanciful "animals" that have never had the luxury of having been subjected to peer-reviewed scrutiny. And as he piles one impossibly weak image on top of the next, it's made clear exactly why fellow Cydonia researchers have never treated them as anything but the amusing caricatures they are (if, of course, they can see them in the first place).
The justly scorned "Smiley Face" used endlessly by would-be debunkers to explain the tendency to "see" human faces where none exist. The "Smiley Face" bears no morphological resemblance to the Cydonia "Face" and is irrelevant to investigating the possibility of artificiality.
Many hoped that Van Flandern's high-visibility press conference would pique the planetary science community's interest in the prospect of discovering artifacts on Mars. Instead, we're left with a pointless residue that recalls Mike Malin's own "Smiley Face" crater or the likeness of Kermit the Frog seen in a wash of meteorite ejecta.
Fortunately, the Cydonia inquiry does not rely on the weight of any one self-proclaimed authority. Researchers such as Lan Fleming, Efrain Palermo and David Jinks are actively shaping our perception of the Red Planet and the surprises it may have in store for us.
It's unlikely that significant revelations will take the form of press conferences. Accepting the reality and implications of extraterrestrial intelligence, assuming its works are on Mars waiting for us to explore and discover, will more likely be a quiet affair, and the online "Cydonia underground" is driving this process in the only way it can: from the inside-out.
