Face on Mars Gets a Make-Over

Alien54 writes "ESA's Mars Express has obtained images of the Cydonia region, site of the famous 'Face on Mars.' using the High Resolution Stereo Camera. After multiple attempts to image the Cydonia region from April 2004 until July 2006 were frustrated by altitude and atmospheric dust and haze, the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board Mars Express finally obtained, on 22 July, a series of images that show the famous 'face' on Mars in unprecedented detail, with a ground resolution of approximately 13.7 metres per pixel."

Comments

Primary Goal of the Mission

[eldavojohn]

Taking these pictures of the face was the primary goal of this mission. ESA was sick of listening to its citizens bitch about there being a 30 year "pictures of the face on Mars" gap (that's a rough translation from European).

But seriously, it is the first goal of the Mars Orbiter:

The Mars Express Orbiter will:

• image the entire surface at high resolution (10 metres/pixel) and selected areas at super resolution (2 metres/pixel);
• produce a map of the mineral composition of the surface at 100 metre resolution;
• map the composition of the atmosphere and determine its global circulation;
• determine the structure of the sub-surface to a depth of a few kilometres;
• determine the effect of the atmosphere on the surface;
• determine the interaction of the atmosphere with the solar wind.

The Beagle 2 lander was planned to:

• determine the geology and the mineral and chemical composition of the landing site;
• search for life signatures (exobiology);
• study the weather and climate.

I guess I would rather see something more than just regular images come from a mission. Right now, I can see all these things on the ESA's site that help the user see all these pictures of Mars but I don't see any maps of mineral composition, atmospheric movement, etc. I've seen pictures, these are some great high quality images with 3D detail that are great screensaver material. But, for the love of science, when do we get the rest of the data from the mission -- you know, the stuff that is, like, going to alter the way we view Mars? Is the public never going to see these results?

Re:Primary Goal of the Mission

[Yvanhoe]

Uh? The "face on mars" only looks like a face on the 1976 Viking's photographs. There has been numerous pictures of this region at higher resolution ever since :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Face_on_mars

I remember the 1998 Mars Surveyor pictures. I wasn't surprise, but who can say honestly that he was not a bit disapointed ? ;-)

Re:Primary Goal of the Mission

[AndyTheSayer]

I believe the official language of ESA is English--at least, my work involves an instrument on an ESA satellite and the official languages of the conferences and workshops they run is always English. Though the conferences themselves are often in places like Italy, which is nice.

Re:Primary Goal of the Mission

[anno1602]

"hasse", not "haße"

Re:Well Done

[Xiroth]

...I really hope this is a joke. Otherwise, try reading at least the first sentence of the summary. Here's a hint: the ESA isn't part of NASA.

Re:Well Done

[LiquidCoooled]

Firstly, this is done by ESA (European Space Agency) and is not a NASA mission.

Secondly, its an orbiting space platform and has nothing to do with rovers (unless you mean the ill fated Beagle 2 which was carried on this mission).

But having corrected all that, you are right its a job well done.

The "other" face on Mars

[ribuck]

I like the "other" face on Mars better. It's a crater with rocks shaped like eyes and a smile: http://roger-browne.com/weblog/2006/03/17/google-m ars-and-the-happy-face/

Today's vocabulary word is "pareidolia"

[greg1104]

See http://www.skepdic.com/pareidol.html for a definition. A commentary on this particular image (along with some wicked cool visual illusions) is at http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/fcs_face_on_mars/inde x.html

Please excuse me, I have to return to searching my toast for the Virgin Mary now.

Re:You think this will quiet the conspiracy nuts?

[will_die]

Old man of the mountain, of US State quarter fame, is New Hampshire. Well until it got blown up.

Re:A face huh?

[saider]

From the FAQ...

Yes, the images have been processed but that is quite normal. We are not taking colour photographs, we have to combine the different colour channels which requires processing time. Each of the four colour channels operate with a filter of different wavelength (red, green, blue and infrared) and produce data sets which have to be combined and calculated on to a digital elevation model.

The images aren't easy

[oneandoneis2]

It's hard to actually work out where the "face" is on the new, high-quality images - they show a lot more area and they're not taken at the same angle. I put a post on my blog with just the part of the image that shows the face, you might find it useful for comparisons.

Ask the Moche People

[scotbot]

The only way we can tell for sure that these aren't articificial is actually to go there and see for ourselves. You cannot dismiss the apparently face-like features of the formation as mere tricks of the light or simulacra until you've discounted all the alternatives. As we cannot determine it's not an articificial structure from mere imagery, we have to go there and investigate in person (not that is gonna be forthcoming anytime soon).

An earthly comparison

In Peru there's a place that is dominated by huge hills which dwarf the surrounding landscape. From a far these look like any other hill in an arid desert environment. However, closer inpsection reveals them to be huge man-made pyramids which have been so badly eroded over the centuries they no longer look articificial at all. They are made of hundreds of thousands of mud bricks. But the culture which built them is no longer around.

Now, suppose they had built just one of these giant structures but in the shape of human face . Given the absence of the people who built it and of any other evidence there was anyone there to build it anyway, and having been eroded for centuries, wouldn't it now look entirely natural, and any facial resemblance entirely co-incidental. Alas, it was only by being up close that its nature was determined.

And as it is with the Pyramids of the Moche, so it is with Cydonia. We're going to have to go there and see for ourselves. We might all just be surprised.