Mars: A Century of Exploration
Life on Mars: The Myths
The idea that there exists some form of intelligent life on Mars
goes back to the claim by Giovanni Schiaparelli (late 1870's) that there
are canals on Mars. This was further popularized by Percival Lowell, who
thought that the canals were built to transfer water from one Martian city
to another.
This idea was fictionalized and expanded to a full scale
Martian invasion of the Earth in H.G. Wells 1898 novel The
War of the Worlds. Although deeper scientific exploration reveals no
evidence of intelligent, technologically advanced Martian life, many
conspiracy buffs and believers in the paranormal still hold that Mars is or
once was inhabited by such beings.
Warner Brothers offers one view.
Most everyone has seen pictures of the so-called "Face on Mars."
This is a feature seen in the Cydonia Mense region. The photograph is from
the Viking orbiters and many people see a human face in the feature,
perhaps adorning a helmet.
As we have seen, there has been a good deal of exploration of Mars since
the Viking missions of the mid-1970's. The Mars Global Surveyor imaged the
Cydonia Mense region again on April 5, 1998. The image is at a much higher
resolution than the Viking photo. Here it is.
You can judge for yourself if this is the result of intelligent design!
However, there has been some recent discussion of Martian life in the
scientific community again! Let's look at the data...
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