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From: AFSDialog <AFSDialog@aol.com>
Date: Sat, 28 Mar 1998 15:51:51 EST
Fwd Date: Sat, 28 Mar 1998 22:35:31 -0500
Subject: Mars Global Surveyor - NASA's Promise Confirmed 


NASA's PROMISE CONFIRMED
JPL Will Honor Goldin's Cydonia Policy
by Stanley V. McDaniel

(Copyright ) 1998 by Stanley V. McDaniel


-------------------------------------------------------------
A Call from Glenn Cunningham

This evening (March 26) I received a welcome telephone call from
Glenn Cunningham of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.
Mr. Cunningham informed me that as scheduled, the Mars Global
Surveyor would come out of aerobraking configuration this evening
and and activate science instruments about 12 hours later, on
March 27. As reported in this newsletter on Feb. 25, science
activity will continue through the summer. Mr. Cunningham, who
heads the MGS project, stated that during April there will be
three opportunities to image the area of interest at Cydonia, and
that attempts to secure images will be made on each of these
occasions.

This information was contained also in a press release sent out
by JPL this evening and available on JPL's MGS website. The press
release was picked up by AP and distributed nationally.

The Spacecraft will be Maneuvered

To optimize the chances of obtaining the desired images,
Cunningham assured me that the MGS will be "rolled" or tilted by
means of the onboard momentum wheels, so even if the craft does
not fly directly over the area, images may still be obtained. In
addition, it is expected that lighting conditions will be good on
these passes. The "roll" capability of the spacecraft will not be
available later on in 1999 during the mapping orbit, since then
the spacecraft must be kept oriented directly downward. It was
one of our strong recommendations, at our meeting with Dr.
Pilcher at NASA HQ last November, that imaging of Cydonia be
attempted prior to the mapping orbit in order to take advantage
of this capability and also to benefit from optimal chances for
imaging a larger area due to the greater distance from the
planet.

A Promise to be Kept

It appears now that JPL will follow through with these steps in
the spirit of Dr. Pilcher's promise. By making its intentions
public, JPL has confirmed the new open policy toward public
concerns as articulated by Administrator Daniel Goldin over the
past year. The meeting with Society for Planetary SETI Research
(SPSR) scientists last November constituted a tentative
recognition by NASA of the scientific legitimacy of the Cydonia
question. In keeping with this developing recognition of
legitimate scientific concern regarding the Martian anomalies,
JPL also has agreed to a meeting with SPSR representatives to
discuss technical questions regarding the upcoming imaging. That
meeting is expected to take place at JPL on March 30.

The Case for the Face Goes to NASA and JPL

Preparatory to that meeting, Mr. Cunningham and Dr. Arden Albee
of the MGS project were sent advance copies of the new anthology
of Mars Anomaly Research, The Case for the Face. That new volume
has also been sent to Daniel Goldin, NASA Administrator, and
other NASA scientists.

Mr. Cunningham also stated that advance notice of the imaging
opportunities will be posted on the internet as soon as more
accurate orbital data is developed. When asked if Dr. Michael
Malin, the MGS camera operator who is an outspoken opponent of
Mars anomaly research, would be cooperating with the new priority
given to imaging the anomalies, Mr. Cunningham assured me that he
will do so.

What Will We Discover?

April, 1998 may be the month we will see the final solution of
the Cydonia mystery -- but rather than any immediate solution, if
good images are obtained we expect there will be a period of
intensive study of the images by SPSR scientists (and now perhaps
others in the mainstream scientific community) to analyze and
evaluate the results.

SPSR imaging specialists Ananda Sirisena, Mark J. Carlotto, and
Vincent DiPietro all agree that since the algorithms used to
evaluate the Viking images are known to be reliable, the first
images of the key Cydonia objects should look very much as we
have seen them in research studies such as are presented in
Unusual Mars Surface Features by DiPietro, Molenaar and
Brandenburg, Carlotto's The Martian Enigmas, and SPSR's The Case
for the Face. If this turns out to be correct, the hypothesis of
possible artificiality will be strengthened and the validity of
the image processing techniques used will be obvious, but new
images may not yet establish certain proof of artificiality.

However, a paper, included in The Case for the Face, by Dr. James
F.
Strange, archaeologist at the University of South Florida, makes
certain predictions as to what to expect if the Cydonia anomalies
are in fact cultural artifacts. Should some of those predictions
be borne out by new images, the likelihood of artificiality would
again be strengthened.
Scientists with the SPSR will be examining the released images,
evaluating features that may tend to confirm or disconfirm the
artificiality hypothesis. Some of the items we will be looking
for are the following (as suggested by Dr. Strange).

1. In the detail of the features we may see geometry,
organization of similar features (like trucks parked in a desert,
which is not exactly geometric unless there is someone directing
the parking), confirmation of detail on the face such as we have
seen adumbrated in enhanced images, structural detail in features
such as the fort, surface treatment of the faceted landforms
which imply construction (like features analogous to shingles on
roofs), and perhaps other culturally meaningful forms. (The face
is a culturally meaningful form.) We look for repetition of
detail at some standard size so far unrecognized.

2. Repetitions of the patterns we have seen, but on a smaller
scale, for example small faces here and there or the features of
the Tholus repeated on the mounds.

3. Other, small features also organized by the square root of two
grid.

4. New features that show fractal anomoly.

New Images Must Be Approached With Caution

Unfortunately, we can also expect, with new images of Cydonia,
two kinds of unscientific responses. The first, of course, will
come from the hidebound skeptics, who will interpret whatever
they see as natural regardless of possible revealing detail. The
second will likely be a welter of highly speculative
"discoveries" such as those claimed at the Pathfinder site by
numerous individuals who, by drawing fanciful interpretations on
rock scratches, have found all kinds of machinery, gyroscopes,
tanks, tractors, and even entire cities -- whose "buildings"
actually are artifacts of bad processing of the JPEG images
provided by JPL.

As with the Viking images, the study and interpretation of new
Cydonia images should be undertaken with great care and a
conservative scientific approach. It is only through persisting
in doing good science on the Face and other anomalies that NASA
(and Dr. Carl Sagan) finally acknowledged that the area may have
some scientific priority. It is extremely important that this
kind of careful scientific evaluation be continued with any new
images.

It must be remembered that as a scientific question, final proof
of artificiality may have to await "ground truth" -- that is, a
mission carrying astronauts to Mars. But what we see in the next
weeks from MGS may, with careful analysis, well be the spur that
leads to that all-important mission.

<end>

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 Posted by: AFSDialog <AFSDialog@aol.com>