Subject: Society for Planetary SETI Research (SPSR), press release Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1998 12:22:05 -0500 Subject: Press Release Controversial Features on Mars: Scientific Studies Say High Probability Some are Artificial Chicago We've been studying the Cydonian region of Mars for two decades, says Professor Stanley V. McDaniel, spokesperson for The Society for Planetary SETI Research (SPSR). It has taken us that long to produce the statistical studies and image analysis that allow us to conclude there's a high probability that some of the Cydonia features may be nonrandom or even artificial. We're thrilled that NASA and JPL have worked so hard to produce these images. They look very intriguing so far, but the right side of the image could well be obscured by the camera angle. Anyway, science takes time, so we'll be analyzing today's images and the other upcoming Mars Global Surveyor images of Cydonia with great care to discover whether they confirm or disconfirm our findings--many of which will be updated at the American Geophysical Union meetings in late May. In 1976," McDaniel continued, "Officials made a snap judgment that the Mars `Face' was 'natural' within three hours of receiving the images from Mars. Many of their premature claims turned out to be mistaken. With the arrival of new images from the Global Surveyor, there will once again be a temptation to make premature conclusions. No one image of the Face will end the controversy because of the two-dozen or so other anomalous formations in the region which form the basis of many of our statistical conclusions. Image Scientist Dr. Mark Carlotto added, We're seeing some of the features we predicted but some of them we're not. There could be several reasons for this. One is that we're not able to see them because of the light and viewing geometry. The others could be that they're distorted or eroded or not there, but we just don't know yet. We're also eagerly awaiting the additional data of other areas of Cydonia which NASA's Acting Director of Solar System Studies Dr. Carl Pilcher has promised us that NASA will try and capture in the next two imaging passes on April 14 and April 23. SPSR President and quantum physicist Dr. Horace Crater of the University of Tennessee Space Institute pointed out, The image does seem to be distorted and stretched. Previous Viking images show a perfectly round impact crater below and to the left of the `Face.' In the most recent JPL image, this crater is decidedly oval, so the image will have to be rectified to meet the known geometric properties of previous NASA images. Members of the SPSR, an association of scientists, some of whom have been studying the features of the Cydonia region of Mars for over twenty years, recently released the results of two decades of Mars anomaly research in a new book, The Case for the Face. It includes scientific and statistical studies that suggest that there is a high probability that a number of the features in the Cydonia region are "nonrandom and possibly artificial in nature. We are not aware of any natural processes here on Earth that can explain what we have encountered in Cydonia so far, states McDaniel. While we are both pleasedand perplexed with the long awaited new data from Cydonia, McDaniel states, we encourage the entire scientific community to join with the SPSR in using standard scientific analytical techniques before announcing conclusions about the area's possible artificial nature. With the release of new images by JPL, SPSR plans to conduct an intensive multi-disciplinary analysis of the data in order to understand what, if anything, might have once occurred at Cydonia. It is the intention of SPSR to make these results available to the media in a timely, accurate, and responsible manner. The SPSR's membership of 25 scientists includes 14 PhDs, the authors of every peer-reviewed scientific paper on the subject, one of the leading Mars meteorite researchers in the country, a member of the former National Commission on Space, a quantum physicist at the University of Tennessee Space Science Institute, a noted archaeologist, a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, a former member of the NASA astronaut corps, university professors, as well as credentialed individuals from the fields of space and planetary science, geology, anthropology, cartography, computer science, image interpretation, medicine and philosophy. NOTE: Dr. Mark Carlotto will be joining the UFO Forum for a live chat on Tuesday, April 7th at 6pm, PT. The chat is available at http://forums.msn.com/ufo The Briefing Room chat can be accessed by any IRC client. The chat server name is publicchat.msn.com and the room or channel name is #briefing.