WASHINGTON - NASA officials today released new photograph of the controversial "face on Mars" taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter satellite which is in orbit around the enigmatic red planet. The hi-tech probe, which is photo-mapping the planet Mars, has a primary camera which is more sensitive than any ever sent to another planet. It provides photographs of Mars at a resolution and clarity unprecedented in the explorations of other planets in the solar system. It was this camera which took the new photos that have caused such a buzz in the international scientific community. The "Face On Mars" was first photographed in 1976 by the US space probe Viking. It showed what looked remarkably like a giant human face on the surface of the red planet but was dismissed by NASA a natural formation. This assertion was strengthened by follow-up missions which showed the face to be a natural mesa-like rock formation which only looked human when sunlight struck it from certain angles. This changed today when the new higher-resolution photographs were released, photos which clearly show the formation to be a human face with curly hair and glasses. The scale of the object is massive with the size of the overall formation thought to be at least seven miles wide. It is a face the size of a large mountain. Jim Redondo, a researcher on the new Mars probe mission who wished to remain nameless, told a reporter in confidence today, "These new pictures are absolute dynamite!" He concluded, "I'm not sure what type of alien intelligence created this massive face on Mars, but I'm sure they know karate."
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