>In a message dated 7/23/99 4:25:02 PM, you wrote:
>If the structures were made by aliens and we waited 100
>years before finding it out, we would be very sorry. And
>if it was made by geological events, that place would be
>_the_ place to do research on them...
>So no matter what the outcome is, it'll be a great
>learning experience. (IMHO, of course)
In my humble opinion as well. This is a point I've been meaning to return to, in response to the issue of "wasted money of a false unknown." The Cydonia region, like Iive said, was prioritized by NASA before anyone knew there was a "Face" there, and it has been long believed that Cydonia is more likely than other regions on Mars to contain water.
In a wonderfully ironic touch, it was a photo of the region demanded by those "nut-cases," The Society for Planetary SETI Research, that vindicated a mainstream geological theory.
Sp yes, Cydonia is a payoff, ET or not. One of the comments that sticks in my head after the new "Face" was returned was made by a skeptical martian geologist: "I _wish_ the Face was artificial so I could explain it" (i.e. the natural mechanisms that created it).
It could very well be a rock. But I'm tired of these overkill denouncements of "boring rock" and "ordinary rock." It could very well be a sort of aerological Rosetta stone.
--Mac Tonnies