I sent a letter to Robert Roe back in July of '89, and here is his reply:
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE,
AND TECHNOLOGY
Suite 2321 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-6371
Septmber 20, 1989
Mr. Keith B. Morgan ABC-News
1717 DeSales Street, NW Washington, DC 20036
Dear Mr. Morgan:
I have personally reviewed the problem which you described in your letter. I fully agree with you that information retrieved by the Mars Viking missions, as well as other NASA missions should be made available to the public. For this reason, I have requested a full explanation by NASA.
This has also led to a regrettable delay in my answering your letter, but I now feel that I can respond with reasonable certainty of the facts.
NASA leadership has assured me of the following: The Mars Observer will hopefully be launched in 1992 to follow up discoveries of Mariner 9,
Viking I and Viking II. The Mars Observer is equipped with both a wideangle camera and a narrow field of view camera. The wide-angle camera will be used to survey the entire surface of Mars. The narrow angle camera will be used to focus on selected points of interest whenever possible. It is
my understanding that NASA does intend to try to capture, with the narrowangle camera, the Cydonia region including the unique features you have referred to as the "pyramids" and the "face". NASA will attempt to locate and focus on this region both because it has interesting geological features and has attracted wide popular interest. I have specifically requested a clarification of their intent. I assure you that all information about these unique features obtained by the Mars Observer will be provided to the public.
Once again, thank you sharing your concerns with me. Please let me know if I can be of any help to you in the future.
Sincerely,
ROBERT A. ROE
Chairman
RR/Cvt
He signed it "Best wishes" and his signature.