MEMORANDUM
To: Congressman Robert A. Roe
From: Richard C. Hoagland
Date: April 19, 1989
Subject: Recommendations for Testing the Intelligence Hypothesis
Following your request, we recommend the following as ways to meaningfully implement the next phase of research into the Intelligence Hypothesis:
1) Immediate public hearings on the Intelligence Hypothesis, before the full Committee -- with invited testimony from our research associates, NASA, and members of the scientific community at large who have reviewed our work and deem it worthy of follow-up investigation.
(2) A formal request to appropriate officials of the Soviet Union for direct examination of any images taken by the Phobos spacecraft of Cydonia, or other "suggestive" sites -- this as follow-up to Dr. O'Leary's briefing of Dr. Sagdeev last year and simultaneous request that more imagery be taken, and my more recent correspondence from V. V. Rubtsov.
3) Formal request to NASA and other appropriate agencies for competitive review and duplication of our current Cydonia results -- including independent geomorphological analyses, replication of the "relationship model" of specific geometrical discoveries, and repeat application of computerized three-dimensional shape-
from-shading and fractal analysis techniques to the existing Viking imagery, with immediate publication.
4) Specific direction for and appropriation of sufficient monies
to (within the FY-90 NASA budget) extend Carlotto's fractal analysis to Viking's remaining 60,000 frames -- both as an
expanded database for discovery of additional "anomalous" Martian surface features, as well as statistical calibration of the remarkable Cydonia results against a more sophisticated understanding of fractal techniques applied to Martian geology in general.
5) Formal direction by the Congress, via legislation, instructing NASA to "take all appropriate measures" to insure re-imagery of
all detected anomalies [see (4), above], via Mars Observer, at
the earliest possible date -- in particular, preparation and publication in advance of a specific navigation and target acquisition plan for new high-
resolution (1 meter) photography of Cydonia and other sites indicated by fractal and other analyses of the remaining Viking images.
6) Direct U.S. intelligence and technical determination of
official Soviet interest in the Intelligence Hypothesis -including independent determination of whether Cydonia has been re-imaged by the Phobos spacecraft, and whether Phobos 2 has
truly failed.
END
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May 18, 1989
COPY
The Honorable Robert A. Roe, Chairman Science, Space and Technology Committee U.S. House of Representatives
Rayburn Building -- Rm 2243
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Congressman Roe:
In light of our recent presentation of evidence supporting a Martian "Intelligence Hypothesis," I thought you'd be intrigued by the enclosed Washington Post Op Ed piece for May 9 [see "WASHPOST" in POLITICS]. The writer, Paul E. Akers, notes--
"America has let things go to the point where only a heroic effort, a mighty mustering of popular and political resolve, will permit it to be first on the planet Mars . . . [for] NASA sputters along with no heroic purpose, but continues to send aloft space shuttles on esoteric missions that excite the public only when they go awry . . . Truly, as The New Republic Notes, America is lost in space . . .
"[However] last summer, four U.S. scientists . . . released amazing computer-enhanced photographs shot in 1976 by Viking 1. The photos show, rising from Mars' dead cratered Cydonia region, what soberly can be construed as the architecture of a long-dead civilization: a five-sided pyramid, a rocky fortress, and, most astonishing, a giant human-like face complete with brow, eye socket, nose and mouth. Suddenly, many people's
long love affair with the idea of life on Mars (even if that life were eons extinct) flamed anew . . . the Cydonia photos send the imagination bubbling (emphasis added). . ."
Congressman, if Akers is correct in his assessment that only a "mighty mustering of popular and political resolve" can turn around the American
space program, then I would gently urge that the recommendations you requested
re verification of our data be expeditiously pursued. The American people deserve -- and want -- to know.
Sincerely,
Richard C. Hoagland
CC. R. Maitland
END