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| - History: On August 20, 1975, NASA launched Viking 1, with its destination on Mars. The Viking 1 was equipped with a landing pod capable of photography that would send data from the surface of the planet, and its main purpose was to determine if there was every any form of life on Mars. Although the Viking 2, launched shortly after the first Viking, proved that life as we know it was inhospitable on the planet. However, other dramatic discoveries were made by the program that made some believe that Mars may have once had an ancient civilization on it. The Viking 1 sent out pods to be placed on the planet to take pictures to see how the planet looked from the surface. Pictures of impressions of depleted rivers, extinct volcanoes, two polar caps where the ice is easily visible, and deserts th
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| abstract
| - History: On August 20, 1975, NASA launched Viking 1, with its destination on Mars. The Viking 1 was equipped with a landing pod capable of photography that would send data from the surface of the planet, and its main purpose was to determine if there was every any form of life on Mars. Although the Viking 2, launched shortly after the first Viking, proved that life as we know it was inhospitable on the planet. However, other dramatic discoveries were made by the program that made some believe that Mars may have once had an ancient civilization on it. The Viking 1 sent out pods to be placed on the planet to take pictures to see how the planet looked from the surface. Pictures of impressions of depleted rivers, extinct volcanoes, two polar caps where the ice is easily visible, and deserts that may have ice underneath them were all taken by the Viking 1. One of these deserts, named Cydonia, had several intriguing features on it. First, there are several pyramids that seem to be identical to the pyramids in Egypt. However, what was more curious was a sphinx-like formation ten miles away, that looked very similar to a face, which has been named the "Face on Mars". Although some believe that the "face" was made by normal erosion on the surface of Mars, others believe that it is something more than that. Two years after the Viking mission, two computer engineers under contract with NASA noticed the face in a journal and began looking through the original photographs. One of the men, Vincent Dipietro, found the original photograph and noticed that it had been labeled "Face" by NASA. Using a sophisticated computer technique, Dipietro and his partner were able to bring more details out of the "face". However, geologist Michael Karr believes that the face is just an accident of nature. But, Diepetro and his partner found another photograph that was taken at a different time that showed the Face of Mars as the same as it was in the photograph, so it could not have been because of some sort of light or camera angle. Dr. John Brandenburg, a phsycist, examined the photographs and believes that the face and the pyramids needed to be better investigated. Another computer scientist used a different technique of photographic enhancement using shadow depth and found something that the others had missed: teeth. Dipietro and his partner also found another face-like formation on Mars, thousands of miles away, that had several similar measurements to the other one. Although Michael Karr believes that the Face on Mars is nothing special, Dipietro is convinced that the face needs to be better investigated. In 1992, NASA will be sending new spacecraft to Mars to take more photographs and agreed to take pictures of the face that will be more high quality. Background: None Investigations: Geologist Michael Karr who worked with the photograph team for the Viking 1 investigated the "Face on Mars" and believes that it was nothing other-worldly and that it was just caused by nature. He was able to find several other pictures that look like natural or unnatural things, for example one looks like Kermit the Frog, but that it is just natural. NASA computer engineers Vincent Dipietro and Gregory Molinar investigated the "Face on Mars" as well and believe that the face was made by an ancient civilization. Extra Notes: The case was featured as a part of the February 1, 1989 episode. Results: Solved. During the 1990s and 2000s, new spacecraft went to Mars to take pictures, and it was determined that the "Face on Mars" was merely an optical illusion and that it was just a Martian hill that only looks like a face from certain angles and illuminations. Links: None
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