Google Maps' X-Files

You've heard of the human face on Mars. Stretching two miles, from end-to-end, it's a rock formation in the Cydonia region of the red planet that looks like the head of an Egyptian Pharaoh. First photographed from orbit by NASA's Viking 1 spacecraft in 1976, the image captured the public's imagination, becoming fodder for supermarket tabloids and convincing conspiracy theorists that NASA was actively covering up the existence of an ancient civilization on Mars.

The "face" was photographed again on April 5, 1998, when the Mars Global Surveyor flew over Cydonia for the first time during its mission, and again in 2001, at ten times the resolution of the original image, thus clearly showing what was known all along: it was just another mesa, a common geographical feature in that region of Mars. New technology had not only provided a vastly superior image but had also made it available on the Web, and in 1998, thousands had waited patiently for the image to appear on the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's website.

Fast-forward to 2007 and the surface of another planet, ours, is available for everyone's online perusal thanks to Google Maps and Google Earth. And once again, satellite imagery may be providing fodder to conspiracy theorists. In 2006, Google added high-resolution imagery of Area 51, located at the southern edge of a dry salt flat called Groom Lake within the Nevada Test and Training Range, owned by the United States Department of Defense and the US AIr Force. The site, the existence of which was declassified in 1997, comprises an airfield believed to be used to operate and analyze enemy aircraft, and to design and test new Military craft. The location is also the subject of conspiracy theories, mostly connected to the alleged 1947 UFO crash in Roswell, New Mexico. Among other claims, it is believed that Area 51 houses the recovered spacecraft, as well as the body of its other-earthly pilot, and that facility was used to reverse engineer the flying saucer.

Google staff made light of the base's reputation by overlaying a cartoon graphic of the occupants of a flying saucer (little green men) having a barbecue on the base on April's Fool Day 2006, but an actual artifact on the base itself gives pause for thought: Measuring some 500 feet from end-to-end (roughly one-sixth the size of the face on Mars) a small network of roads in the southwest portion of the base looks suspiciously like the helmeted head of an alien, as imagined in 1950s sci-fi flicks (or like one of the critters in the classic arcade game, Space Invaders).

You can view the evidence and decide for yourself. Simply type in Area 51 in Google Earth or Google Maps (in satellite view) and scroll down. You can also type in the following coordinates: 37°12'54.46" N 115°48'21.13" W to go directly to the "face." It could be my mind playing tricks on me (probably), or that the rumors of alien contact are true (doubtful), and maybe it's just the good folks at Area 51 having a laugh at our expense. In the final analysis, perhaps I should do like Mulder on X-Files and "trust no one."

Posted by Christos Tsirbas.

Comments

They still have the HAARP site in Alaska blacked out though. If you look at the map for easter Alaska, near the Canadian border, you'll see a long rectangular strip that has absolutely no data.

Posted by: David G | October 31, 2007 at 08:44 AM