The face on Mars

A key aspect of the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Extended Mission is the opportunity to turn the spacecraft and point the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) at specific features of interest.

One particular mesa of Arabia Terra in the lower northern plains of Mars looked to some like a human face. The feature was widely cited and popularized as a potential "alien artifact."

With such interest, a new high-resolution view was captured of the facelike mesa on April 8, 2001.