On May 21, 2002, under the advice of NASA Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Officer Sharon S. Holgerson, the Formal Action Committee for Extra-Terrestrial Studies (FACETS) submitted an inquiry to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory requesting information pertaining to the "face on Mars". The request included the following:

1. All records containing the words "Cydonia", "Face on Mars", and "FACETS," "Enterprise," "Enterprise Mission," and "Hoagland" (or any variation thereof, such as "face on Mars" or "F.A.C.E.T.S.), including electronic mail messages, memos, faxes, letters, telephone transcripts, reports, press releases and other documents created and transmitted or transferred by and between the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and other agencies during the period January 1997 to the present;

2. All records pertaining to the authorization, creation and release of all versions of the April 6, 1998 Mars Global Surveyor image "PIA01236" released by the Public Information Office of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and first published on the internet at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/PIAGenCatalogPage.pl?PIA01236;

3. All records pertaining to the authorization, creation and release of all content in the May 24, 2001 internet article "Unmasking the Face on Mars" (see http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast24may_1.htm);

4. All records pertaining to the authorization, creation and release of all versions of the "3D perspective view of the Face on Mars" created by Dr. Jim Garvin and Jim Frawley and used in the May 24, 2001 internet article "Unmasking the Face on Mars" (see http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast24may_1.htm);

5. All data sets, documentation of software programs used and specific, stepwise enhancement techniques used in the creation of all versions of image "PIA01236" and the "3D perspective view of the Face on Mars."

Prior statements by NASA suggest that the space agency has conducted scientific analysis of the Cydonia landforms. (See paragraphs two and six, for example, in NASA's response to FACETS' demand letter.) Such analysis, it has been widely implied in NASA documents, has led NASA to conclude that there is no evidence for artificiality at Cydonia. However, to date NASA has provided no dated, authored studies of images of the Cydonia region. Therefore, FACETS' prior request asked for all records pertaining to alleged space agency analysis of the Cydonia landforms. NASA's official responses to FACETS indicate that no such analysis exists, confirming earlier suspicions that NASA's proclamations on the nature of the "face on Mars" are not based on any serious study of imagery involving standard image interpretation techniques such as photoclinometry or fractal analysis. Rather, definitive space agency statements that the "face" is a natural feature, such as those contained in the highly misleading NASA article "Unmasking the Face," are shown to be pseudoscientific.

Since no official space agency analysis of the Cydonia region was produced by FACETS' first request, it seems fruitless to pursue documents which probably do not exist. Therefore, the current FACETS request focused on pinpointing the reasons and authority behind questionable public releases by the space agency. The misleading nature of these releases, the "Unmasking the Face" article and improperly processed 1998 image of the "face on Mars," are discussed at length in articles written by NASA contractor and engineer Lan Fleming. See What the Mars Global Surveyor MOLA Reveals about the Mars Face
(and what it reveals about JPL) and How to Make a Catbox. Fleming's analyses raise important questions about the unscientific methods behind these officially sanctioned public releases. Retrieving documents revealing the ordering and execution of these scientifically questionable releases could shed light on the motives behind their issuance, and help prevent further "junk science" from being foisted upon an unsuspecting public.

On June 6, 2002, Jody U. Brown, Manager of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Contract Administration Office, responded to FACETS' latest request. In the letter Ms. Brown reminds us that Caltech (under which JPL operates) is exempt from the Freedom of Information Act, and that "although we do make an effort to respond to requests for information that do not violate Caltech policy or good business practices, Caltech/JPL does not search for and then compile information for third party requesters."

Apparently, JPL declined the request again because specific documents were not requested. Whether FACETS' request violates good business practice is unknown, although it is certain JPL probably wishes FACETS would take its business elsewhere! In effect, Brown's assessment is that FACETS' latest request "is too broad in scope for JPL to reasonably respond."

What FACETS learns from this latest denial of information is that unless we know the names of specific documents directing the creation and publication of the "Unmasking the Face" article and the "catbox" image, we are unlikely to know who authorized them, and for what purposes. However, it is known who played a part in the Unmasking the Face article's MOLA (Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter) profile. Dr. James Garvin, the MGS MOLA Co-Investigator who has engaged in discussion with FACETS on several occasions, is listed as a co-creator of the questionable MOLA data.

Ironically, in a unexpected turn of events, Dr. Garvin recently requested a conference call with FACETS member and long-time Mars anomaly investigator Richard Hoagland and FACETS counsel Peter Gersten. Though the unprecedented 90 minute meeting, Garvin addressed many of FACETS' concerns, though it is unclear whether Garvin was confronted on the matter of the MOLA data. Hoagland reportedly came away from the meeting with renewed optimism about the relationship between FACETS and NASA. A more detailed report on the meeting is forthcoming.

David Jinks

July 14, 2002

 

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