Why Cydonia Should Be Reimaged Regardless of Anomalies
From The Book of THoTH (Leaves of Wisdom)
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The following is taken from MacTonnies.com with permission from Mr. Tonnies for use in The Book
Why Cydonia Should Be Reimaged Regardless of Anomalies
by Mac Tonnies c. 2000
A common complaint against efforts to reimage Cydonia, site of the controversial "Face" on Mars and other unusual features, is that doing so would "waste valuable spacecraft time." In other words, there are better things that the Mars Global Surveyor can be doing than taking picture after picture in an attempt to discern possible artificial structures.
Certainly the MGS' mission is varied, with many goals and sites decided upon by competent scientists. The "anti-Cydonia" argument is based on the a priori assumption that the Cydonian enigmas are natural and are of relatively little scientific interest and grounded on the notion that taking new pictures of Cydonia and carrying out comprehensive Mars research are incompatible.
Both of these arguments are faulty. Here are two reasons why:
1. Assuming for argument's sake that there's nothing artificial to be found at Cydonia, the region is still of enormous geological importance. Ironically, Cydonia was the desired touch-down site for one of the Viking landers in the 1970s; Cydonia was voted down not because the region was without interest, but because its bumpy terrain may have crashed the lander.
Any scientist will concede that Cydonia has a lot to offer us in purely geological regards, such as the age of the ocean that new evidence tells us once existed in Mars' northern hemisphere. Cydonia is also one of regions that may still be "wet," increasing the possibilities of finding primitive life, either extinct or alive.
And the Face, if natural, is still worth a look. "The face is probably natural, but the sequence of events that led to its convoluted and distorted topology is strange indeed," commented geologist Jon Floyd [emphasis mine]. Another geologist, approached for a skeptical appraisal of the Face, remarked that although he thought it was natural, he wished it was artificial so he could explain it.
There are many features on the Face alone that seek plausible geological mechanisms if debunkers are to maintain their conclusion that the Face is scientifically uninteresting. The "nostrils," for example, appear much too small to be craters. Could they be extinct "blowholes," indicating volcanic activity in the distant past? This would certainly be a major find, if proved true. (Of course, one must also wrestle with their presence right above the observed "lips" and "mouth"...)
2. In one of the most surpringing decisions carried out by Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS), a second picture of the "City" area was reimaged in 1999. While this new image failed to include any of the topology interested parties have been clamoring for (i.e., the "Fort"), this image did document MSSS' interest in probable water ice in the vicinity -- a discovery made by none other than the Society for Planetary SETI Research (SPSR).
If non-polar ice is present on Mars in abundant quantities, this is an obvious boon for future manned missions, which will be able to process it for both life support and rocket fuel, as described by Robert Zubrin in his book "The Case for Mars." The implications of water ice in Cydonia are far from trivial, and future high-resolution images of the region would benefit both SPSR and similar groups as well as "mainstream" Mars researchers.
Mac Tonnies' Essays
- Mac Tonnies
- Skeptics, Debunkers and Believers
- Thoughts on Extraterrestrial Archaeology
- The Face on Mars: Evidence of Extraterrestrial Intelligence?
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