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After the Martian Apocalypse

Page 24

by Mac Tonnies


  Speculative mission patch for Earth’s first manned mission to Mars. The craft depicted is nuclear-powered. Patch Design and Image courtesy Kenn Brown, Mondolithic Studios.

  The clock is ticking.

  We don’t yet know if the anomalies at Cydonia are the remnants of an extraterrestrial culture. But the prospect is imminently testable; a crewed mission to Mars could be underway in ten years, using essentially off-the-shelf hardware. If we elect to visit Mars in the near future, it’s likely the Mars-bound craft will even embody many of the features familiar from the Space Shuttle as well as from the Apollo moon shots. We don’t require any technological quantum leaps to investigate Cydonia firsthand; however, we certainly need a radical departure from the present NASA bureaucracy, as well as the willingness to entertain once-heretical notions.

  Our world is poised on the edge of technological singularity, in which sentient (or near-sentient) computers, acting in concert with nanotechnology and broadband telecommunications, will revolutionize virtually every aspect of our lives, from transportation to medicine to leisure.

  But the most important boon of all will be the insight gained into ourselves. How will our relationship to the cosmos change? Will world politics continue down millennia-old paths of warfare and mutual paranoia, or will technological progress result in a heightened sense of perspective, so acutely captured in Carl Sagan’s vision of Earth as a vulnerable “pale blue dot” adrift in a sunbeam?

  Mainstream SETI, founded on the cynical dogma that extrasolar aliens will be unable to visit, is already beginning to fracture under the onslaught of twenty-first century science. It is possible to get here from there—wherever “there” is. Cydonia is our first, precious opportunity to tackle the existential and cosmological riddle of extraterrestrial intelligence.

  For the first time in the history of our species, we’re haunted by the possibility of seeing our own planetary ego through alien eyes. Will we like what we see, or will we ultimately choose not to look? If we do, it may be with a new, younger set of eyes.

  NASA has been hostile to attempts to democratize space, from its super-stringent, grudging permission of space tourism to proposed restrictions on civilian launch companies such as TransOrbital. But the satellite industry, grown wary of NASA’s prohibitive launch costs, has spawned a promising private-sector space industry. Hobbyist rocketeers are on the verge of achieving escape velocity, both literally and figuratively.

  While the leap from Earth orbit to Mars is vast indeed, it’s just possible that today’s commercial space enterprises will play an increasingly meaningful role. And as microelectronics become cheaper and more ubiquitous, dispatching a privately maintained Mars orbiter becomes plausible. After all, the highly successful Surveyor is basically a clone of the failed Mars Observer, built from existing parts. Perhaps exceptionally ambitious entrepreneurs will find the means to build an orbiter or lander dedicated to investigation of the Cydonia region, perhaps by refurbishing technology left over from NASA’s Spirit and Opportunity rovers, which landed successfully in January 2004.

  At the margins of the possible is a commercially financed private manned Mars mission, perhaps with the cooperation of the Russian and European Space Agencies. Fortunately, the ESA doesn’t seem to share the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s aversion to Martian life. Its failed 2003 Beagle 2 lander was the first attempt to test for life on the Red Planet since the Viking mission set sail in 1975. Given the recent discovery of surface water ice, any forthcoming findings from the ESA should help refine our view of Mars’s enigmatic past. If the features in Cydonia test positively for artificiality, a geological and chemical survey of the Red Planet will help us date their construction.

  Barring catastrophe on Earth, humans will ultimately tread the fabled plains of Cydonia. Humanity is in the painful process of achieving ideological escape velocity. But once the confines of Earth are broken, we will be all the more resilient for our effort. Shards of a holographic plate, when shattered, are able to recreate the original image. Our durability as a species is similar; we can become far more than the sum of our collective parts if we willingly dash ourselves against alien shores. A diaspora of space-borne humanity can and will inundate the cosmos. Knowledge will mushroom as surely as the universe’s own runaway expansion.

  If the Martians were an extrasolar species, we might hope to eventually encounter them. If they were an indigenous species destroyed in an apocalypse beyond contemporary understanding, we will take to the environs of space gifted with foreknowledge.

  Exploration of Mars is neither scientific fancy nor a novel exercise in engineering. Increasingly, the mystery of Mars’s death is a critical piece in the scattered puzzle of our own survival. Poets have written of mankind’s “pathetic fallacy”—that nature somehow empathizes with our plight. Mars is ours only if we summon the foresight to take it—as well as any unexpected revelations it may have in store for us.

  Acknowledgments

  A variety of people have contributed to the development of this book, often without realizing it. First, I owe a debt of gratitude to Patrick Huyghe for conceptualizing this book and supporting it. Many thanks are due to Chris Joseph for his superior shape-from-shading renderings and spirited commentary on Mars and nonhuman intelligence. I’m also grateful for the support of Kurt Jonach (http://www.electricwarrior.com), whose patient approach to the unfolding spectacle that is Internet “Mars weirdness” has provided a novel sense of perspective. Image processor Lan Fleming has provided level, fascinating coverage of the Martian enigmas that has inspired a great deal of this book. Thanks to Zak for the illustrations, free CDs, and eclectic email. Special thanks to Efrain Palermo, the first to seriously propose that the anomalous “streaks” on Mars are due to liquid water (regardless of what the mainstream science press says). Fringe researchers of all stripes should aspire to his level of commitment and capacity for wonder. J. P. Levasseur of the Society for Planetary SETI Research has played a quiet but important role in my research, pointing out the shifting standards for evidence that plague the embryonic field of extraterrestrial archaeology. Thanks to Bill Dash and Gerry Forster for presenting my views on the Mars anomaly controversy on the Web. Peter A. Gersten deserves my sincere thanks for including my commentary in his daily electronic newsletter as well as for alerting me to interesting developments.

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  Selected Bibliography

  Aczel, Amir. Probability 1. New York: Harvest Books, 2000.

  Binder, Eando. Puzzle of the Space Pyramids. Curtis Books, 1971.

  Bova, Ben. Return to Mars. New York: Eos, 2000.

  Bracewell, Ronald. The Galactic Club. Stanford: Stanford Alumni Association, 1974.

  Brandenburg, John. Paxson, Monica Rix. Dead Mars, Dying Earth. Berkeley: Crossing Press, 2000.

  Carlotto, Mark. The Martian Enigmas. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books, 1997.

  Clarke, Arthur. 2001: A Space Odyssey. New York: Roc, 2000.

  Hancock, Graham. The Mars Mystery. New York: Three Rivers Press, 1999.

  Hoagland, Richard. The Monuments of Mars. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books, 2001.

  Kurzweil, Ray. The Age of Spiritual Machines. New York: Penguin, 2000.

  McDaniel, Stanley. The McDaniel Report. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books, 1994.

  McDaniel, Stanley. Paxson, Monica Rix (eds). The Case for the Face. Berkeley: Adventures Unlimited Press, 1998.

  Moravec, Hans. Robot. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.

  O’Neill, Gerard. The High Frontier. Princton: Space Studies I
nstitute, 1989.

  Rux, Bruce. Architects of the Underworld. Berkeley: Frog Ltd., 1996.

  Sagan, Carl. Contact. New York: Pocket Books, 1995.

  Sagan, Carl. The Demon-Haunted World. New York: Random House, 1995.

  Sagan, Carl. Pale Blue Dot. New York: Ballantine, 1997.

  Sawyer, Robert. Calculating God. New York: Forge, 2001.

  Shklovskii, I. S. Sagan, Carl. Intelligent Life in the Universe. New York: Delta, 1998.

  Sitchin, Zechariah. The Twelfth Planet. New York: Avon, 1999

  Steele, Allen. Labyrinth of Night. New York: Ace Books, 2001.

  Tipler, Frank. The Physics of Immortality. New York: Anchor, 1997.

  Zubrin, Robert. Wagner, Richard. The Case for Mars. New York: Free Press, 1997.

  Online References

  Essential Mars/Cydonia websites

  New Frontiers in Science

  (http://www.newfrontiersinscience.com)

  Co-edited by Mark Carlotto, New Frontiers in Science is a stimulating online science journal that dares to tackle forbidden subjects such as the Face on Mars.

  VGL (http://www.vgl.org)

  Lan Fleming’s VGL is a studious repository of planetary SETI research and expert commentary.

  Palermo’s Martian Anomalies (http://palermoproject.com)

  Efrain Palermo’s systematic hunt for liquid water on Mars is chronicled here alongside his extrapolation of the Phobos “monolith.”

  The Enterprise Mission (http://www.enterprisemission.com)

  Science writer Richard C. Hoagland’s massive, ever-controversial Mars anomaly site.

  For more individually reviewed anomaly sites, visit http://www.mactonnies.com/cydonialinks.html.

  Index

  (Italic numbers indicate photographs)

  alien contact

  alien head icon

  aliens

  civilizations transmissions visitation

  ancient astronaut theory

  anomalies

  bright markings Cerberus region Cydonia enduring “Epcot Center,” Face fragility of geometric Hoagland on Mounds platform search for secondary sites devoted to Surveyor’s re-imaging of thermal trigonometric

  anomalists

  access to data and disclosure of extraterrestrial reality ideas

  anomaly community

  anomaly-detection system

  anomaly researchers

  Anthropic Cosmological Principle

  anthropocentric thought

  apocalypse

  apocalypse (Mars)

  Apollo astronauts

  Apollo missions

  Apollo moon landings

  archaeology

  architecture

  alien D&M Pyramid geology or

  arcology(ies)

  Arecibo Observatory

  artifacts

  alien anomalous communication with extraterrestrial

  artifacts (cont.)

  Face as on Moon in movies NASA and ownership of protocol for discovery of search for SETI’s rejection of sites devoted to in solar system and technology

  artificiality

  bright lines Cerberus Platform City Cliff Cydonia features D&M Pyramid evidence favoring Face Fort Martian moons memes advocating Mounds proving quest for sites for structures on Mars tests for Tholus

  Artificiality Hypothesis

  City in vindication of

  Asimov, Isaac

  asteroid belt

  asteroids

  astronauts

  atmosphere

  vanishing

  Bara, Mike

  Barker, Bill

  believers

  Bell, Art

  Binder, Eando

  Biosphere II

  biotechnology

  Blair Cuspids

  Bova, Ben

  Bracewell, Ronald

  Bracewell probes

  Bradbury, Ray

  Brandenburg, John

  bright markings

  Brookings Institution

  Brookings report

  Burroughs, Edgar Rice

  Burroughs, William S.

  Camelback Mountain

  canals

  claim for legend of

  Carlotto, Mark J.

  D&M fractal survey and Hollow images of Tholus statistical analysis by

  Case for the Face, The (SPSR)

  celestial events

  Cerberus Ellipses 1 and 2 (CE1, CE2)

  Cerberus Platform

  Chilbolton Observatory formations

  Chryse Planitia

  City

  artificiality formations Mounds

  City complex

  City Mound

  City Pyramid

  bright lines erosion on five-sided moat substructures waterfront view

  City Square

  civilizations

  alien Cydonian extrasolar extraterrestrial on Moon technological see also Martian civilization

  Clarke, Arthur C.

  Face in mass launching

  Cliff

  access road artificiality elevated feature on lamp “splash” crater near Tholus and wall/ramp

  clones

  Close Encounters of the Third Kind (film)

  Coast to Coast AM,

  Coathanger

  Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP)

  conspiracy theories

  Apollo Moon landings of Hoagland

  Contact (film)

  Contact (Sagan)

  Corso, Philip J.

  cosmos

  postbiological

  Cosmos (Sagan)

  cover-ups

  by NASA

  Crater, Horace W.

  Crater Stickney

  Crowned Face

  Cydonia

  alien artifacts as alien theme park angular mesas in architecture artificial structures in, ( see also artificiality) cultural identity in excluded from SETI research features in formations in fractal survey of geometry in as habitat images of on Internet investigating mesas converted to buildings message of oddities in planetary context problem posed by public speculation reality of Sagan and sites devoted to structural detail in taking seriously target for future space probes technology and tube-like features underground infrastructure website visitor’s guide to

  Cydonia complex

  age of City Square in Face in Mounds in redundancy of layout technology in

  Cydonia controversy

  Hoagland in Internet and

  Cydonia Hilton (Dragon’s Teeth)

  Cydonia issue

  fiction addressing NASA’s handling of

  Cydonia Mensae region

  Cydonia Quest site

  Cydonia region

  geology of geomorphology

  Cydonia region (cont.)

  images of manned exploration of

  Cydonia researchers

  Hoagland’s schism, with

  Cydonian desert

  “Cydonian Hypothesis,”

  Cydonian sea

  Cydonians

  biological/cultural heritage humanoids visiting Earth

  D&M Pyramid

  bilateral symmetry five-sided “glyphs” on in new light Tholus and tunnel leading into 2003 mosaic of

  Darwin, Charles

  debunkers

  debunking

  and fame of the Face memes in by NASA by Sagan by skeptics

  Deimos

  destruction, deliberate

  Dick, Philip K.

  DiPietro, Vincent

  DNA

  Dolan, Richard

  Dolphin

  Dolphin Mesa

  dolphin-shaped formation

  Drasin, Daniel

  Dyson Sphere

  Earth

  colonization Cydonians visiting dying extinction-level events global warming intelligence on links with Mars Martians evacuating to nonhuman intelligence visiting nuclear winter overdue for global killer photos of twenty-first century

  Egypt

  Eg
yptian profile

  Elysium

  “Encyclopedia Galactica,”

  England, Jill

  enigmas

  Cydonia Face Mars probes

  Enterprise Mission

  “Epcot Center,”

  erosion

  the Face

  Europa

  Event (the)

  evolution

  accelerating

  exobiologists

  exobiology

  Exploded Planet Hypothesis (EPH)

  extraterrestrial contact

  extraterrestrial intelligence

  confirmation of many faces of Mars linked to prehistoric run-ins with search for see also SETI

  extraterrestrial structures

  extraterrestrial visitation

  extraterrestrials

  colonizing communication with on Earth “scientific” quest for visiting

  Face

  as anomaly artificiality of asymmetry “beacon” explanation brow catbox photo challenge posed by Chilbolton formations and chin Cliff near in Contact controversy over crevasse cultural function of D&M linked with discovery of eastern side erosion on evidence of intelligence eye feline form fractal analysis as habitat harelip feature headdress humanoid resemblance as icon images lips location of media depiction of in meme theory MGS shot of in Mission to Mars as monument mouth NASA and nostrils photos as place marker platform pullback from as pure idea purpose of reality of Sagan on similarity to Sphinx siren call of skeptics and split-image motif teardrop technological interpretation of two-sided visual metaphor western side

  Fermi Paradox

  Fiertek, Robert

  Fleming, Lan

  Fort

  alignment artificial structure collapsed inward courtyard erosion on images of rocket fins tube

  Fort, Charles

  Friedman, Stanton

  Generation Ark Model

  genes

  geoglyphs

  geology

  tubes in

  Giza Necropolis

  Giza Pyramids

  Grand Unified Theory

  Gray aliens

  Great Pyramid

  Hancock, Graham

  Happy Face Crater

  Hawking, Stephen

  Hecates Tholus

  Hellas basin

 

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