The Face on Mars: An Artificial Reflective Substrate?
For images and links:
www.mactonnies.com/cydonia.html (page 41)
Richard Hoagland's latest feature essay, The Light
Finally Dawns at Cydonia, presents an intriguing new
view of the Cydonia region courtesy of a
multiple-bandwidth false-color rendering. The image,
which depicts the Martian surface moments before
sunrise, shows the Face and D&M Pyramid apparently
"glowing" in the faint morning light, as if polished
to a mirror-shine. Hoagland insists that this effect
is unique the the Face and D&M, writing: "[J]ust what
could make 'an average Martian mesa' [...] so
incredibly reflective
... even in the semi-dark, pre-dawn twilight of
Cydonia?"
[image]
False-color composite showing "anomalous" reflectivity
on the Face.
What Hoagland fails to realize is that the
"incredible" reflectivity referred to above is
accountable by the portion of the Face exposed to the
breaking dawn light; other features in Cydonia reveal
equally "incredible" lighting effects, as shown by
Chris Joseph (below).
[image]
The bulk of Hoagland's argument relies upon the
existence of what he describes as a reflective
cellular matrix. It comes as little surprise that this
elusive material takes the form of concealed glass
paneling, explaining why it isn't directly visible.
Since the image in question is an amalgam of infrared
and visible light data, it's impossible to tell if the
apparant matrix lies buried beneath the surface of the
Face (and, apparently, beneath every other mesa in the
area) or clings invisibly to the surface. It's
possible that a heat-reflecting material concealed by
the Face's western half could radiate in such a way as
to produce the glare described by Hoagland. But
Hoagland is quite explicit that the anomalous glow
should have been (at least momentarily) visible when
the Mars Odyssey recorded the dawn image.
[image]
The Face on Mars. Note the relatively smooth surface
on the feature's eastern side.
Elswhere in the article, Hoagland revisits his "Feline
Hypothesis," which possibly explains the difference in
texture and morphology between the Face's two halves.
Hoagland's scenario requires that the eastern side's
controversial feline likeness is an intentional aspect
of the Face' design. If he is wrong, as argued by Mark
Carlotto, then the feline likeness is simply due to
accumulated sand and mass wasting near the proposed
eastern "eye." This debate is not likely to be solved
soon. Conceivably, ground-penetrating radar aboard a
future Mars probe could validate the blanket of dust
required by Carlotto's model. (Shape-from-shading
analysis already suggests that the eastern half is
significantly taller than the western half; whether
this is due to a build-up of sand or to artificial
structural casing, as argued by Hoagland, is a
lingering and portentous question.)
Hoagland's article goes on to reiterate his certainity
that the Face, if artificial, is certainly not a mere
sculpted mesa, but a high-tech, incredibly durable
formation supported by an internal substrate -- the
same material that allegedly produces the "anomalous"
morning glow. Circumstantial evidence indicates that
Hoagland may be at least partially correct. For
example, a rectilinear depression on the Face's "chin"
looks very much like a cavernous feature formed from
an internal collapse, and unusual striations on the
exposed surface look tantalizingly like the flattened
remains of some form of Cydonian "rebar." Hoagland has
argued that the multiple signs of inward collapse on
the Face's "feline" half may be the due to millennia
of rusting: a provocative hypothesis, given Mars'
oxidizing surface chemistry). Additionally, Lan
Fleming has studied an adjacent dark crescent, which
he proposes may be a deep chasm into the Face's
(presumably hollow) interior.
[image]
Possible collapse near Face'e "chin." Note striations.
The Face may, indeed, possess a durable metallic
substrate. But, as can be seen in Chris Joseph's
image, the prospect of the Face's "strange" glow being
due to anything other than west-facing sunlight (in
both infrared and visible portions of the spectrum) is
witheringly low. Addressing the issue of which
portions of the spectrum generate the reflections seen
in Hoagland's false-color graphic is made difficult,
if not impossible, by how little we know about the
construction of the supposedly implicating image --
although even a cursory examination of THEMIS and Mars
Global Surveyor data suggests that the "glare" is due
to visible light.
Characteristically, Hoagland teases us with
false-color extreme close-ups of the Face and D&M in
hopes of showing us the "highly geometric" cellular
arrays we're assured are there. Confronted with a
screen-full of pixels, it's possible to "see" just
about anything one desires. Try as I might, I don't
see detail consistent with architecture (Martian or
otherwise). Very simply, the Mars Global Surveyor and
the Mars Odyssey spacecraft lack the exquisite
resolution necessary to discern such features -- if
they exist. Mapping the interior of the Face should be
a priority for future telerobotic missions.
