February 26, 1998: Mariner Mission to Mars - Mark J. Carlotto & Stanley McDaniel
Carlotto and McDaniel discuss the Mars Global Surveyor mission and prospects for imaging the Cydonia region. They clarify that the spacecraft camera was turned off due to aerobraking constraints and solar conjunction, not conspiracy, and that multiple imaging opportunities will arise between late March and September. Carlotto cites statistical odds between 100-to-1 and 100,000-to-1 favoring artificiality of the Cydonia structures.
Both scientists express concern over contractor Michael Malin having sole control of Mars imagery. McDaniel notes that NASA personnel at a recent meeting appeared unfamiliar with years of published research on the Cydonia anomalies, suggesting institutional barriers rather than a deliberate cover-up may be at work.
Key Moments
Colorado Springs blue-green fireball: full-moon-sized, four minutes: Davenport relays a fresh report from a woman on the west side of Colorado Springs (Garden of the Gods area, near Pikes Peak/Cripple Creek) who watched a huge blue-green fireball drop nearly vertically for roughly four minutes - bigger than a full moon. Davenport notes meteorites can't remain visible in atmosphere for anywhere near that long.
Jan 10-11 Colorado fireball: sonic boom, blacked-out helicopters from Fort Carson: Curta details the January 10-11 sighting: a blue fireball reported by Summit County Sheriff and Colorado Springs PD, traveling southwest to northeast - the wrong direction for normal meteors. A sonic boom knocked items off shelves, then three helicopters launched blacked-out (no running lights) from Fort Carson Army Base flying northeast. Jack Murphy, curator of Denver's Natural History Museum, mapped a 100-square-mile search footprint over the Black Forest area.
Mars Global Surveyor orbit: aerobraking ends late March, Cydonia opportunities through September: Carlotto explains that MGS is in an aerobraking orbit too unstable to predict from one orbit to the next, with a low point of 73 miles and high point of 14,566 miles. Aerobraking ends late March; from then through September (excepting May solar conjunction) the spacecraft will be in a flexible orbit that can roll laterally to image any target on the planet, including Cydonia, with multiple opportunities.
Carlotto's statistical study: 100-to-1 to 100,000-to-1 odds for artificiality: Asked the odds the Cydonia structures are natural, Carlotto cites his detailed statistical study based on years of work, putting the odds between 100-to-1 and 100,000-to-1 in favor of artificiality. He cites well over a dozen independent pieces of evidence, with three independent statistical analyses (Carlotto's, archaeologist Strange's, and McDaniel/Crater's mound geometry) appearing in the forthcoming Case for the Face.
Malin's solo downlink: clandestine preview imaging concern: Carlotto explains the structural problem: the MGS imaging downlink goes directly to private contractor Michael Malin, who has stated he sees pictures no one else on his staff or at JPL sees. With ~10-meter-resolution preview images possible during the elliptical phase, Carlotto warns this is the perfect setup for clandestine preview imaging - letting NASA review Cydonia offline before deciding what to release publicly, paralleling the 1996 ALH 84001 Mars meteorite rollout.