61 lines
2.9 KiB
Plaintext
61 lines
2.9 KiB
Plaintext
SUBJECT: AP ARTICLE, MARSFACE, ASTRONAUTS FILE: UFO1745
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July 8, 1988
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SOME SEE GLIMPSE OF LIFE IN 'FACE' OF MARS
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AP and UPI
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WASHINGTON - Unusual formations on the surface of Mars -
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including a mile-long rock shaped like a human face - may have been
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carved by a lost civilization, four scientists said yesterday.
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The scientists, including a former astronaut, said at a news
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conference that the chances are better than 50-50 that the
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structures were made by intelligent beings.
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The scientists said that a photograph taken of the Martian
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surface in 1976 by NASA's Viking spacecraft clearly shows a face
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that could have been carved out of a Martian mountain a
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half-million years ago.
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The sphinx-like image that stares outward from the planet may
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be part of a complex of buildings, as evidenced by other unusual
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formations nearby, the scientists said.
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Brian T. O'Leary, a former astronaut and an expert on Mars,
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said there is sufficient uncertainty about the origin of the rock
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face that it should be a major target for future spacecraft sent
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to Mars.
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O'Leary said last January he asked Soviet space scientists who
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were preparing to send probes to Mars to examine the area where the
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face appears. He said the Soviets were interested, but replied that
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their spacecraft was not technically designed to study the Cydonia
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region of Mars, where the sight is located.
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The Soviets launched a probe toward Mars yesterday and plan to
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launch a second one later this month.
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The news conference yesterday was prompted by a recent study
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of the Viking photographs conducted by Mark Carlotto, an optical
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engineering expert.
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In an article published in Applied Optics, Carlotto said that
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a computer enhancement of the Viking photographs shows that the
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face and various other nearby features appear to have been carved
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by "intelligent design." Yesterday, Carlotto told reporters that
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a sophisticated statistical study of the shapes clearly shows that
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"the face is not natural."
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Richard Hoagland, founder of a private organization of
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scientists called "The Mars Project," said that in addition to the
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face there is "a complex of unusual objects" at the Cydonia site.
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The complex includes a five-sided mountain that resembles a pyramid
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and a massif he believes could have been part of an astronomical
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marker.
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Hoagland said that a line drawn from the center of the city,
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across the face to the massif, or cliff, would line up exactly with
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the Sun at the moment of Mars' summer solstice, as it would have
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occurred 500,000 years ago - an alignment it is extremely unlikely
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could occur naturally.
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(Source: The San Diego Union - July 8, 1988)
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**********************************************
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* THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo *
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