You have to ask yourself why the Viking 1 and Viking 2 data were not enhanced by modern computer image processing techniques, which is relatively inexpensive in comparison with the construction and launch of entirely new Martian landers.

One answer must lie in the general reluctance of the space community to face up to what a dead planet Mars really is; and one way of avoiding this fact is simply to ignore the data.

What people want to see is a landscape like the desert South West of the United States. But the plain fact is that the boulders in the desert south west of the United States are the same color as the surrounding soil, not the grey seen on Mars.

The mental process is similar to viewing the Martian "frost" as being water frost, when only CO2 works at those temperatures. It is also similar to ascribing geological features to the effects of water action, when only CO2 could possibly be the working fluid at the temperatures and atmospheric densities of Mars in "recent" times.

Along these same lines, you have to ask yourself why full and complete crater counts have not been done or funded. Once again, the mental process at work here is simply avoidance.

EP