NASA’s 2001 Mars
Odyssey orbiter has taken some new imagery of the celebrated mesa known as
the Face
on Mars.
That
faceless feature, a hill about 1,000 feet (300 meters) high, is slowly eroding
along with the other mesas in the Cydonia region of the red planet. Cydonia
Mensae lies in Mars’ northern hemisphere, on the ragged boundary between the
cratered highlands of western Arabia Terra and the sprawling, flat northern
lowlands of Acidalia. Other mesas nearby have generally similar shapes.
The Cydonia
image showing the “Face” in the foreground combines numerous frames taken at
visible wavelengths by the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS), a camera on
the Mars Odyssey orbiter.
A
geological transition zone, Cydonia includes eroded mesas, impact craters, and
generally smooth ground separating them. The infamous Face advocated by some as
proof positive of a busy alien construction team is one of those eroding mesas.
But don’t
fret. That spot may indeed be an alien address for Mars life.
The
equatorial regions on Mars have since dried out to depths of hundreds of meters
(yards) or more. However, the middle latitudes -- including places such as
Cydonia -- may have water-ice-rich ground only a few meters down, according to
researchers at Arizona State University in Tempe. Water’s presence has
implications for the chances of possible life…and it might even be of direct
use to a future human expedition that reaches the area.
-- Leonard David
Credit: NASA/JPL/Arizona State
University, R. Luk
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