1976 - THE SPHINX OF MARSIn 1971, an American space probe, Mariner 9, had already taken photographs which showed pyramidal structures in the Elysium region. In summer of 1976, among the thousands of photographs taken by the Viking space probe, we find one, Nā 35A72, taken in the Cydonia region (located at about 41ā north and 9ā west) which shows an enigmatic face half hidden by a shadowed area and staring up at the sky. This discovery will be confirmed later by another photo, Nā70A13, taken 35 days later and on a different angle, which will allow the piecing together in relief by computer.This Face of Mars, nicknamed the Sphinx because of its resemblance to the Egyptian hairstyle, measures about 1.8 long by 1.4 miles wide and its height is presumed to be between 450 and 700 yards. Enhancing the images by computer would leave to believe the presence of an eyeball sculpted in the only eye-socket visible in the photos as well teeth in the area of the mouth.To see in this immense face the work of nature and/or the erosion by wind and water a long time ago is to forget the consistency of its features. The discovery of the Face is going to be followed by one of other surprising structures in the immediate surroundings of the site at Cydonia. In fact, Vincent DiPietro and Gregory Molenaar, the first researchers to start the investigation, are going to discover that a sort of immense, five-sided pyramid measuring approximately 1 by 1.8 miles ( which will later be called the D&M pyramid ) is situated to the south-west of the Face. Nothing was done about the situation until July 1983 when Richard C. Hoagland discovered, to the east of the Face, what he called the Projects, a group of massive, pyramidal structures of different sizes and positioned often with a strange consistency. Among this group, which forms a 2.5x5 mile rectangle, there are also some small, cone-shaped structures. Furthermore, right next to the Projects, there is a structure even more artificial in appearance, the Fortress, which resembles a very large pyramid whose point has disappeared and lets one catch a glimpse of the walls and an empty space inside. To the south-east of the Face, there is yet another visibly artificial structure, the Tholus, whose height is almost perfectly circular measuring about 1mile in diameter by about 135 yards high and what looks like, at half incline, a sort of wide ditch also perfectly circular. The structures' artificialness at Cydonia casting no doubt, the Fortress poses a question whether after its construction it was victim to some kind of catastrophe or if something abruptly forced its interruption. Other traces of destruction or a sudden halt in contruction can be seen on the right side of the Face and on one of the sides of the D&M Pyramid. One thing is certain, the site is very old. If it is attributed to hypothetical Martians, that would make it several tens of million years old although nothing proves that life on Mars, which probably exists, has not reached a really organized stage. Therefore, the "extra-martian" solution more probable, all the more so since to carve or build structures whose dimensions exceed the mile needs an extremely developped technology. This has nothing to do with Easter Island... So, perhaps it is, on the site in Cydonia, a kind of "message", insribed to last for eternity. Who did it and Why? Until astronauts land near the Sphinx of Mars, these questions will probably remain unanswered.
|