June's_Face+on+Mars

Mars Exploration Program

**Face on Mars**

The “Face on Mars” was discovered in 1976 by Viking 1 & 2 orbiters. The “Face on Mars” is located in the Cydonia region and is what appears to be a face formed by natural arrangement of Mar’s surface.

 “...the photos are just a play of light and shadow...” NASA said to the public after seeing the photograph, but some people didn’t agree with this statement. There are a few that believe this was the work of some form of life found on Mars. Vincent DiPietro and Gregory Molenaar, two computer engineers at NASA, were searching through old NASA archives and found another picture of the “Face on Mars” were the sun-angle on the “face” was at a different position. This discovery contradicted the “light and shadow” statement.

20 years after the images taken from Viking1 & 2, other spacecraft like NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor (1997-2006) to gather up-dated data at the Cydonia region. With the advance technology they were able to create 3-D illustration of the “Face on Mars.” Currently the “Face on Mars” is conveyed as an optical illusion.



Face on Mars Bibliography