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Originally Posted by A.DIM
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Originally Posted by R.A.F.
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Originally Posted by A.DIM
And while Cydonia was an initial target for the orbiter, being as Sagan said, most interesting geologically, it was curiously ignored.
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Could you provide a link confirming this? |
On Mars: Exploration of the Red Planet. '58 - '78 .
After much discussion and debate, Cydonia was chosen as the Viking II site. If I read the article correctly, the idea that it was decided as "too rocky" would've precluded it from even making the final cut.
Needless to say, I'm skeptical of such an argument for why it was changed, primarily because it was after "the face" pictured was made public. |
The final decision that it was "too rocky" was made based on Viking orbiter imagery, which was of much better quality than Mariner 9 images or Earth-based radar, which were the best sources of information until Viking arrived. Note that, according to the very same source you reference, there were the
same problems with the Viking I landing site.