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Malin Suddenly "Finds" New Images
of Cydonia -
Under increasing political pressure applied by the Enterprise Mission and the Art Bell radio program in the last few weeks, Malin Space Science Systems director Michael Malin suddenly "found," and then unceremoniously dumped, eight new images of the region on his web site last week. Malin's website claims the images were taken between July 4th, 1999 and February 17th of this year. The timing of this sudden data dump is curious, to say the least. Malin had given no indication that any such release was being planned, and in fact had been conspicuously silent on any future imaging of the region since the initial Science Phasing Orbit images taken in April, 1998. This new release, coming on the heels of Dan Goldin's rough questioning at the hands of Senator (and Presidential candidate) John McCain of Arizona and Goldin's subsequent public admission that JPL is overseen by a committee led by former NSA and DIA honcho Bobby Inman, seemed calculated to relieve the public pressure put on the agency in recent weeks. Rocked by allegations reported by former NASA chief debunker and current UPI reporter James Oberg that JPL had covered up problems with the Mars Polar Lander and that it knew the spacecraft was doomed, Goldin took a lot of heat during his recent congressional testimony from McCain. McCain, obviously motivated by a fax campaign started by Hoagland and Bell, suggested that NASA seemed to be less than forthcoming on a variety of issues and needed greater oversight from his committee. Clearly, this new image release was cynically designed to curry favor with congressional critics and reinforce the idea that NASA is open and honest. But, by proving what we here at Enterprise have asserted all along -- that Malin had far more images of the region than he had released -- it in fact shows that the system of public accountability has all but broken down at JPL, and that the database now being foisted upon us after months (at least) of sequester must be regarded as compromised, at best. This escalating series of unsettling events – beginning in the last year with the shocking loss of NASA’s Mars Climate Orbiter and Mars Polar Lander, -- have only added sad new confirmations to the pattern of deception and skullduggery that has been in place around this subject for more than a decade. We originally began looking at potential wrong doing by "certain elements" in NASA at the time of the dramatic sudden disappearance, in 1993, of JPL’s Mars Observer Spacecraft. That was the first new NASA attempt to follow the successful 1976 Viking Missions back to Mars with a new spacecraft … and, many Americans hoped, would ultimately result in new images of Cydonia itself. After Mars Observers sudden "loss," we documented our own, highly suspicious findings surrounding this sudden "convenient" disappearance. These appeared in Hoagland's two-decade chronicle of the on-going mysteries surrounding Cydonia, "The Monuments of Mars." An official, supposedly "independent study" of the Mars Observer fiasco (from NASA), conducted by the Naval Research Laboratory, came up with its own "probable scenario" for what happened to the missing spacecraft – an "explosion … in deep space." But, since the telemetry from the spacecraft was deliberately turned off just prior to its critical "Mars orbit insertion," this conclusion was in essence "just an educated guess" by the NRL Investigating Panel. There was simply no data to actually analyze regarding any details of the "disappearance!" A striking repeat to this critical "lack of any final telemetry" was again documented in the case of the recent Mars Polar Lander (MPL) debacle; for the sake of a mere five million dollars (on a 165-million-dollar spacecraft!), there was supposedly no radio telemetry system on board which would have allowed engineers to monitor the spacecraft through the critical entry and landing phase. So (exactly like the previous experience of Mars Observer!), there was – again -- literally NO DATA for the "Young MPL Review Panel" to analyze regarding what actually happened to this spacecraft. Like the earlier Navy study, their final conclusions regarding what may have happened to MPL had to be based on another "probable scenario" … Coming on the heels of the stunning revelation two weeks ago, by none other than the NASA Administrator himself, of the apparent long-term involvement of the Nation’s intelligence community (though Admiral "Bobby" Inman) in JPL’s civilian space affairs, one can only wonder anew at this strange (and extraordinarily convenient) "series of coincidences." For, further investigation has revealed that Admiral Inman (among his other titles, former Director of the super-secret NSA, and Naval Intelligence as well …) does indeed preside (as Chairman) over a "JPL Committee" at Cal Tech. He has been there, according to a Cal Tech spokesman, for "… at least eight years" -- in other words, since just before Mars Observer disappeared! Amid these revelations, as well as recent rumors of actual "NSA missions to deep space …" (!), the last line of Oberg’s original March 21st NASA story " contained a most intriguing "typo":
To say now that these developments are significant "new support" for our long-held contention -- that all these spacecraft may have been quietly "taken black" because they were approaching Mars -- would be something of a major understatement … Which brings us to Michael Malin’s sudden new release of previously unknown "Cydonia" images … quietly acquired (we are also casually informed) over the past year … without any public knowledge … This, of course, immediately presents us with a couple of very fundamental questions: First: why were these images acquired surreptitiously (clearly, no one outside of Dr. Malin’s imaging facility was informed they were being taken at the time!)? Second: why were they then held, with no public notification (even after they had been successfully acquired), for as long as a full year? And third: are we to seriously believe that, with fifteen separate orbital opportunities to re-image Cydonia in those two years, NOT ONE of those successfully secured a new image of the Face itself?! (On the latter: during a recent Bell Show, after discussing the new Cydonia images, I received a call from a known DIA agent -- claiming that "Malin has indeed taken new Face images, but he and Goldin will never release those .." In view of the fact that Admiral Inman was also a former Vice-director of the DIA, this phone call rang a bell …RCH) So, what’s seriously wrong with this whole political picture? To answer that, we must go back two years before this current series of events, when there were major scientific debates and heated public discussions attempting to insure the highly public re-imaging by Mars Surveyor of this specific, highly controversial region of the planet. And Dr. Michael Malin, as a contract employee of JPL (and NASA!), was clearly included in the eventual agreement that was reached. These efforts involved both "The Society for Planetary SETI" (SPSR), which sought and achieved a private scientific meeting at NASA Headquarters with key NASA officials to that end, as well as our own – "Enterprise" – political activities. These latter efforts focused on a highly visible campaign to bring much needed public input to the problem (through Art Bell’s audience of millions …). In March, 1998, after receiving literally tens of thousands of faxes from that highly involved audience, demanding that NASA take new photos of the region after over twenty years, NASA finally "caved": in a prominent agreement, later posted on the official JPL Website, the Mars Surveyor Project agreed to "announce these [Cydonia] imaging opportunities in advance …" and then "[shortly after receipt] to post the resultant images on the Internet." According to the specific terms of this agreement:
While this policy deliberately understates the frequency of imaging opportunities and reinforces the often repeated claim that the spacecraft is difficult to aim, it does make it clear that these images should have been released months ago with announcements in advance that the imaging would take place. It can immediately be seen that, by deliberately withholding this latest Cydonia imagery -- in some cases (according to the data tables published on Malin’s own Website), for up to a year – Dr. Malin, as well as JPL, is in gross violation of this widely publicized agreement. Further, by not notifying the press or public of impending imaging opportunities, or promptly placing their results on the Internet as per that previous agreement, both Malin (if not JPL and NASA) have now unnecessarily – and, apparently, deliberately -- fanned the flames of "conspiracy" around these images as well … Why? Because the verifiable "chain of custody" -- which was the prime purpose of the original agreement in the first place -- has now been hopelessly compromised by Malin’s bizarre actions. Especially, by his deliberate (and simply inexplicable) withholding of the images themselves ... Because of this baffling decision, serious new questions regarding Dr. Malin’s scientific integrity – if not his willingness to abide by NASA’s promised obligations to the public – certainly are raised. Obviously neither a timely release nor a prior announcement took place because the image released was forced, rather than planned, just as the initial imaging was forced on Malin back in 1998. At that time, as he had been for a number of years, Malin was extremely dismissive of the images themselves and the features they showed. In fact, at one time, Malin had placed an image on his website supposedly depicting the "teeth" in the mouth of the Face --
-- which in fact had an arrow pointing to a contrast artifact created by Malin's deliberate overexposure of Viking frame 70A13. This unfortunate episode of out-right debunkery was chronicled by Dr. Stanley McDaniel in an article titled "Dr. Malin's False Teeth," on the McDaniel Report web site. In fact, Malin has a long history of hostility to the idea that there might be anything artificial at Cydonia or for that matter anywhere else on Mars. According to Vincent Dipietro, during the "Case for Mars" conference at Boulder, Colorado in 1981, Dipietro and his research partner Gregory Molenaar were audibly assaulted by Dr. Malin. Malin had set up a display table near to the one hosted by Dipietro and Molenaar, who were trying to generate interest in the Face and their image enhancement process. Every time anyone approached the table and started to look at the images of the Face, Malin picked up a megaphone and began yelling into it, creating so much noise that he was able to drive away many a curious conference-goer. This open and unscientific hostility toward the idea of merely investigating the Face and Cydonia continued through the Mars Observer program and into the Mars Global Surveyor program. In a page on his web site, Malin made his feelings plain in 1995 when he stated that;
This utterly biased, completely non-scientific (and indeed, curiously un-curious) perspective even seeped into some interviews he did before the arrival of Mars Global Surveyor at the Red Planet. "I won't believe there's anything artificial down there until I see the lawn furniture," he stated at the time. Even more, he went on to claim that the spacecraft was extraordinarily difficult to point at a target as small as the Face, and compared the chances of getting an unambiguous picture of it with the odds of hitting the lottery. It was clearly evident that Malin was adverse to the idea of re-photographing Cydonia, at least in any public way, and that he was not likely to release any images he did obtain if he changed his mind. However, thanks to a fax and e-mail campaign generated by Richard Hoagland and Art Bell, Malin was subsequently forced to release an image of the Face that was taken on April 5th, 1998, during the Science Phasing Orbit period. At that time, the MGS was passing over the Cydonia region every nine days and did so for nearly four months, providing ample opportunity to image the Face and other anomalies. Contrary to his previous claims about "hitting the lottery," Malin was able to nail the Face dead center in the image on his first "official" attempt. Subsequent opportunities provided images of the "City." Another image of the "City," covering essentially the same territory as the April, 1998 images was released in 1999.
That initial image was of course the infamous "catbox" version of the Face. It was deliberately degraded, having both a "high pass" and "low pass" filter applied to it, effectively eliminating most of the detail. The picture was also taken under the absolute worst possible lighting conditions and from a low oblique perspective, badly distorting the Face after rectification and giving the illusion of asymmetry (the platform of the Face in fact has subsequently been shown to be 98% symmetrical). In spite of the poor viewing angle and lighting conditions, the new image
provided startling confirmation of many of the characteristics that were originally suggestive of artificial ancestry. But
this first released version of that image, the one intended for public consumption,
was a mess. Even if you possessed the skill and background to be able to manipulate the image to some degree of recognition, you would be hard pressed to evaluate the resulting data as
anything but a random muddle of sand -- hence, the "catbox" label.
This second, vastly superior version of the "raw" data appeared - again without comment - on the various NASA, MSSS and JPL web and mirror sites literally just minutes after the last of the network news programs went off the air. It had far more visible detail and confirmed many Face-like features -- including clearly unmistakable nostrils in the nose, of all things -- but it came too late. Only after the major news organizations had broadcast their reports and made their pronouncements did this considerably improved, much more obviously Face-like image miraculously come to light. But, oddly, there were features "missing" as well.
In both of the original Viking images (35A72 and 70A13) there were fine but obvious structures in the mouth which seemed to represent teeth. One of the key tests for the artificiality of the Face has centered around this issue. In fact, it's hard to imagine a more decisive test of artificiality then the representation of teeth in the mouth. Dr. Malin apparently realized this as well, because he made a special effort to debunk the presence of teeth in the Viking data by placing fake images of the "teeth" on his website (see above). He also went well out of his way to misrepresent the arguments made by the researchers advocating the presence of "Teeth". One of the first contentions made against the presence of actual teeth was the claim that they were merely artifacts of the image enhancement process. The problem with this argument is that it lacks any logical basis. The possibility that a tooth-like set of image artifacts could appear on two very different images, taken 35 days apart at different sun angles, yet in precisely the same location, are non-existent. It is even less likely when you consider that there are no other appearances of teeth-like "artifacts" anywhere else in either image and the features are well beyond the range of any individual data errors. It is also noticeable that the West end of the mouth had an unmistakable closure in the corner which is missing from the supposedly "better" MGS image. Finally, the two images are oriented at differing perspectives relative to the pixel grids. In spite of this, Malin and others have persisted in their mischaracterization of the issue. Obviously, the teeth were one of the key areas of interest in the event that new images of the Face should be obtained. When they were, we were not really surprised to see nothing resembling the teeth anywhere in the mouth area. Given the two day embargo period that the image had been held by MSSS and Malin's clear motives for hiding anything supporting the Artificiality Hypothesis, it was about what we expected. Still, it was flatly impossible that this was a genuine, unaltered image. Since it had been categorically shown that they were not imaging artifacts, the "Teeth" could only be actual features on the Face itself. Even if we were inclined to cave into the view that the missing teeth must have been a trick of light and shadow after all, a "Trick of Light and Shadow" can only have produced the teeth under a specific set of circumstances. Namely, there must an object or set of objects to throw such a shadow in the first place. Since no such objects are visible in the new data, the assertion, or merely even the suggestion that shadows could explain the features in the Viking data is insupportable and insipid. Consequently, since the Viking data establishes without doubt that the teeth (or some objects capable of creating the illusion of teeth) must be there, the only reasonable conclusion is that the Teeth are there, we just can't see them for some reason. The case of the missing teeth was only the beginning of the problems with the Face image, however. As Richard Hoagland pointed out
back in April, 1998, the image of the Face only contained about 50% of
the data it should have. There was a combination of factors accounting
for this, ranging from a very narrow contrast band set on the orbiter
camera to the fact that the resolution on the image was deliberately cut
in half, supposedly to increase the width of the image strip and assist
the targeting of the Face.
It is also notable that this explanation was presented only after Hoagland posted his piece and went on the Art Bell program decrying what had been done. One wonders when just when Dr. Malin would have deigned to inform us of his modification of the camera settings if Hoagland hadn't caught him at it. What this, and other information we obtained at the time, added up to was a definite conclusion that the Face and City images were not genuine or had been altered. Given that these images were only held for a period of a few days, what then are we to conclude about these new images that have been held in secret for many months? What could someone like Malin -- so steadfastly committed to obfuscation of these issues that he was willing to yell into a megaphone at a scientific conference -- do to images he held for so long? The reasons for these questions are quite simple: besides his past history of obfuscation on Cydonia, Mailin, in various scientific meetings over the past two years as well as in a recent published piece in Smithsonian Magazine (September ’99), has gone to great lengths to describe the "terrible arm twisting by NASA Headquarters" that ultimately forced him "against his better scientific instincts" to acquire the three original MGS Cydonia images in April, 1998. In these public protestations, he also vowed (because it was "simply awful science") to "never do it again" – despite what NASA had agreed to! This, despite the fact that none other than Dan Goldin himself (head of the same NASA that Dr. Malin works for …) promised all Americans, through his old friend CNN science correspondent John Holliman (shortly before John’s tragic death): So, despite Dan Goldin’s public promise, and despite his deputy Carl Pilcher’s posted agreement with the MGS Project, for Malin the "arm twisting" apparently "just went away." After April 1998, no one at Headquarters (certainly NOT Dan Goldin!) apparently followed up on the Cydonia Agreement. No one in authority over Malin (our own efforts and those of SPSR notwithstanding) during the course of these two years, apparently ever asked Dr. Malin "Are you still taking Cydonia images pursuant to our commitment with the public? And, if so, where are they ..?" Even Dr. Mark Carlotto, a member of SPSR (and, at the time, one of those who briefed at the original NASA Headquarters meeting) -- obviously thinking of the terms of that important original NASA commitment regarding public notification and timely release of new images from all Cydonia "fly overs" -- stated as late as last July (1999):
So, the main question is very simple: if there was NO continued pressure on Malin from "inside" (NASA Headquarters) to continue taking Cydonia images … and there was NO "scientific reason to do so" (Malin’s own words) … Why did he quietly, surreptitiously, keep taking images!!?? And … if there was nothing "anomalous" on them … why didn’t he release them immediately -- if for no other reason, than to silence all his critics once and for all??!!
While publicly claiming that he had no scientific interest in Cydonia, it turns out that Malin has been secretly imaging the hell out of the region with great frequency. According to Peter Nerburn, there have been 15 imaging opportunities since MGS went into the mapping phase, and nine images have been released. One of these was a supposed second attempt to get an image of the Face that went awry when MGS suddenly went into "safe" mode. Unfortunately, none of the other seven new images are of the Face, even though the spacecraft could have been rotated to point at the Face and capture another oblique image. This begs the obvious question; "What about the other six imaging opportunities?" Are we really to believe that Malin, who is obviously a bald faced liar when he feigns no interest in Cydonia (Cydonia is now by far the most photographed region of Mars, at least as far as publicly released images go), if he claims that the just didn't take the pictures? How plausible is it that just skipped six opportunities while in the midst of his Cydonia photography binge? Clearly, it is not plausible at all. And let's not forget the Science Phasing Orbit opportunities between October 1997 and May 1998, when MGS was passing over Cydonia every nine days, creating several dozen chances to take images of Cydonia. JPL scientists have told both Vincent Dipietro and Whitley Strieber in the last two years that Malin had been taking so many pictures of the Face that they could not get time on the MGS for their own research! If this is true, and Malin's obviously overwhelming interest in Cydonia makes certain that it is, where are these images? And even more, if these images (as a for-instance) clearly showed the Face to be natural, why would he not release them immediately? After all, if they supported his public contention that "this is all nonsense," he could have ended the debate long ago by simply putting out the images of these supposedly "natural" features. The fact that he did not, that he held them from public view and failed to notify that same public in advance when imaging opportunities were coming up, shows that he at least was far less confident in his public stance vis-ŕ-vis Cydonia than he let on. In fact, it presents a logical dilemma for those that insist there is nothing conspiratorial going on at NASA/JPL/MSSS at all. Because, the only reason for Malin withholding any images of Cydonia for any length of time is if they did not support his view that the Face and surrounding objects are entirely natural! If, in fact, they showed just the opposite! These extraordinary -- and directly contradictory statements/actions -- should make any reasonable person at this point pause and simply ask: "Just what the hell is going on!?" In light of these "obviously inconsistent Malin actions (to use a legal term)," the recent revelation – by Dan Goldin himself! -- that "the most celebrated intelligence agent" of this Nation has been in charge of a specific "JPL Committee" for over eight years … that, in turn, is in ultimate charge of all Mars imaging … should now make such a "reasonable person" pause a long, long time … For remember, the backdrop to this whole charade is "Brookings": an official NASA Report which warned that serious evidence of extraterrestrial life … or even ruins … could "destroy all of civilization." This being the case: in terms of using any of the data in these latest MGS images for ascertaining "the presence or absence of artificial structures at Cydonia," there can be only one logical conclusion: because of the unconscionable delay, these images are legally worthless for such purposes!! It is time … actually, well past time … for a thorough Congressional Review of NASA’s actions in this and other matters. Fortunately, there now appears to be a congressional "watchdog" worthy of this crucial task and, more important, apparently seriously willing to consider it: Senator John McCain.
In recent Senate hearings regarding the loss of Mars Orbiter and Polar Lander, Senator McCain made this important and revealing statement:
During House hearings on the NASA failures, held last week in Washington, some additional suspicious facts came to light. According to congressional sources, the Young Review Panel (as well as JPL’s inside investigation) did not interview ANY of the staff, management or scientists at NASA Headquarters, regarding the two failed spacecraft. According to a story in USA Today,
This remarkable "oversight" is, unfortunately, totally consistent with our own theory on the "losses" – that NASA Headquarters quietly encouraged (through "better, faster, cheaper"), then turned a "deaf ear" to JPL’s management excesses, so that ultimately the inevitable failures would allow a "mainstream excuse" to return management of key Mars missions to NASA Headquarters itself. This was also the reason (in our model) for Goldin’s sudden, highly irregular disclosure of Admiral Inman’s long-term role in overseeing JPL’s "civilian" space activities … It reminds one all too much of that highly controversial new movie -- "The Skulls!" The film depicts a secret network of "shadowy alliances and life-long affiliations," established though college-inspired memberships in and ritual practices used by key secret societies … forever outside (and beyond) "ordinary" government and business channels. In its opening scene, the film solemnly informs the audience that this is not "just fiction": that "three U.S. Presidents have been members of this organization …" (a reference to the acknowledged existence for over a hundred years at Yale University of the mysterious "Skull and Bones Society"). In the film, one member of the Society in question – an otherwise highly respected U.S. Senator (the "good guy") – narrowly triumphs over his unscrupulous rival for ultimate control and direction of the secret organization, in "continuing to manage government affairs behinds the scenes …" The echo with the recent example of "Goldin/ Inman" should not be lost ... Several commentators have seen grave parallels in the film to a whole series of secret contemporary events now occurring at the highest levels of government and corporate culture here and around the world. Our own discovery of deep ritual practices in NASA and at JPL is an astonishing, totally independent confirmation of this deeper reality "behind the facade." Senator McCain is right: the key issue here is trust. By any measure -- considering the tumultuous and highly suspicious NASA history of Cydonia , and the overriding importance of an honest data set to any final determinations as to its ultimate artificiality -- Malin’s actions easily fall under the category of "withhold[ing] critical information from the public and elected officials …" And, for those who would insist that "a NASA scientist would never alter data" (after never withholding it!), what about Jim Oberg’s UPI accusation (repeated on the Bell Show the other night) that "an unnamed space official simply altered the conditions of the testing until the engine passed ..."? And remember: Oberg was "one of them," an engineer under contract to NASA for over twenty years. What else did he see while he was there … to form the basis of such a serious accusation ..? Mr. Oberg is currently UPI’s "space writer," as well as serving as a "space consultant" (much like Richard C. Hoagland was at CBS) to ABC News. Hardly the "flake" he’s been depicted as, in NASA’s "over-the-top" response to his very serious accusation. But then, all of us who can cite specific circumstances of NASA’s "less than forthright history of truth telling" have at one time or another been tarred with the same brush … It’s time to end such nonsense. And an open, complete, congressional airing of all these major issues is just the forum. If you’re interested in seeing such hearings, then by all means let Senator McCain know! His direct Washington D.C. Senate office fax number is:
Be sure to remind him of Dan Goldin and NASA’s previous public commitment "to release [all Cydonia] data to the public on a timely basis … shortly after receipt on the Internet …" And then also ask: "Senator, even in Washington, is one year in any way considered ‘shortly?’" And finally: "Would not withholding specific images of "the Face" (as certain "inside" sources now have also charged) represent the ultimate in NASA’s long documented violation of the public trust?! When, Senator, is ‘enough … enough??!!’" On the new images themselves: we shall have much more to say about these in another, future article. Suffice it to note: after our still very preliminary examination (see the Enterprise Website), there DO appear to be some additional, remarkable, and definitely inexplicable non-geological "anomalies" on these new images as well. In particular: our initial discovery of another "ruined tetrahedron" at Cydonia – this one forming the ruined apex of "the Tholus" itself! A still-discernable structure which, once again, exquisitely reinforces our previous "geometric relationship model" for the entire Cydonia Complex. Yet still, there are many discrepancies between this new Cydonia data and that recorded by Viking, when the game was (presumably) somewhat more "honest." These new images contain more of the mysterious "fuzzy spots," which conveniently seem to appear around areas that might be considered to be entrance points to potentially artificial structures. And even more curiously, these fuzzy spots seem to be confined exclusively to the Cydonia MGS images ...
If, as we suspect, "something" could have been done to these new images in the year that they’ve been "lying in a drawer" in Malin’s office, how (some might well reasonably ask) can we simultaneously report "serious new evidence of artificiality" on those same images? Because, nothing in this "game" is linear … And, while perfectly capable of removing blatant evidence of any "smoking guns" (such as the missing "teeth") on such images (especially, given one year with no one watching, and access to the Nation’s best supercomputers!), the now "outed" intelligence agencies (not "NASA") we now know (thanks to Goldin) are behind this whole charade are not above leaving "just enough evidence" to keep the game "interesting" … (Remember the kind of mentality that becomes an "intelligence agent" in the first place!) It is our presumption, that in this "Year of Disclosure," we are being fed more timed released aspirin. Just enough evidence to keep the hypothesis advancing, but not enough to put it over the top in the minds of the general public and media. Our job now is to keep the kind of political pressure on that has given us these new images in spite of the desire of Malin and NASA to continue hiding them. So … stay tuned. |
