Tuesday, April 6, 2010

The Dog Ate Richard Hoagland's Phobos Homework - UPDATED

Only such a tired old explanation would be a sufficiently corny excuse for RCH's spectacular failure to come up with what he promised on Phobos. This was a display of vintage Hoagland. Breathless excitement on the overnight radio. Promises that we're about to have our socks knocked off. Then... extremely unconvincing evidence.

The European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft encountered Phobos, the larger of Mars's two moons, on March 5th, coming within 67 kM of the "big potato" and pinging it with radar to examine its mysterious interior. In a second encounter, March 7th, the HRSC (High-res Stereo Camera) was turned on and beamed back a series of shots varying from 9 metres/pixel to as little as 4.4 m/px.

Richard Hoagland got MIGHTY excited about this, sensing an opportunity for self-promotion. In the last hour of a 4-hour marathon on the Coast to Coast AM radio show on 4th/5th March he stated that Phobos was an artificial satellite, constructed by Martians. He was confident that the Mars Express encounter would show this -- and he expressed the hope that ESA would give him the goods without delay, unlike NASA which, of course, always holds back new planetary data while they airbrush out evidence of extraterrestrials. Within days of the flyby he was back on the radio demanding to know where the hell the images were and darkly hinting that it looked like ESA was up to NASA's airbrushing tricks. On March 15th (by no means an unreasonable delay for processing) the first images were released[1], and RCH was on C2C-AM that very night doing a "toldya!" routine and howling that a cover-up was going on. He was so excited you could practically see him hopping from one foot to the other. Early the following morning he posted this on his Facebook page:

Mar 16 12:36a
For those who listened to "Coast to Coast AM" last evening (March 15), you heard me announce that "the latest Mars Express images of the inner Martian moon, Phobos, have now CONFIRMED -- after application of extensive 'noise-reduction algorithms' -- the existence of Phobos as 'an ancient, ARTIFICIAL Martian Moon!'" Because of the inexplicable "week-long ESA delay" in this imaging release process, and the obvious attempt we have now discovered to deliberately CONCEAL what's actually on these images with so-called "white noise" we have decided to cancel our appearance at the "AlienEvent" Conference, March 20th -- and, instead, post our detailed Phobos imaging analysis on Enterprise for free. Stay tuned :)

RCH was accusing ESA of receiving good clear imagery and then deliberately degrading it with noise. Only he, Richard Hoagland, had the skills necessary to remove the "noise" and reveal the truth. Yes, we were about to get our socks knocked off yet again!

There followed 20 days of nothing during which the fans of his FB page were apparently driven half crazy waiting for their socks to be knocked off. RCH pleaded for more time, explaining that "the actual writing is fairly simple. It's the citations that take time." During this period, pumping his followers to the max, he wrote that his revelations were worth waiting for because they would "change everything you thought you knew." He appeared briefly on C2C-AM 4th/5th April proclaiming that the cat was out of the bag, and "disclosure" was imminent (as we've heard countless times from many C2C guests.) In the morning what he called his "paper" (in reality not much more than a blog) finally appeared on his web site[2].

It does have a terrific image at the head of the page, and if Hoagland created it he deserves all credit.** But as evidence of what he says it's evidence of, it's a decisive FAIL.

Richard Hoagland loves to pretend that he's a scientist, and that his "investigations" are scientific. But neither is true, as we know. If this were science, he would have first presented the ESA images as released, with the superimposed artificial noise. Then he would have shown the result of his noise-reduction algorithms, proving that important detail had been masked by the noise. Then he would have detailed very precisely what the noise reduction algorithms were and the exact steps he took to apply them, so that other workers could attempt to repeat the process. In fact, the web page does none of those things. It's just hot air. The "evidence" in the images reduces to the remarkable pattern of grooves that cover this small moon. They're very interesting, certainly, indeed enigmatic, but they've been known since the first orbital images by Mariner 9 in 1971. Hoagland wrote that they intersect at such precise right-angles that they could not be natural. This is what scientists call poppycock.[3]

In typical fashion, Hoagland seized upon some data and pretended that it supports his position when in fact it does not. He made much of "the astonishingly 'artificial' ... nature of the interior Phobos' radar scans [sic]". (the original version of the page had an incredible assortment of typos, considering he composed it over a 20-day period.) However, as the preliminary report of the MARSIS radar team[4] makes clear, the strong peak is from the surface of Phobos, not the interior.

As for those citations Hoagland wrote about, that took so much of his time composing this sadly inadequate piece, how many were there, in the end? Zero. Perhaps the dog ate that part.

References:
[1] ESA Phobos images
[2] Hoagland web page
[3] Mars Express data has led to better maps of the groove "families" (the top map is the best actual data, the lower one is based on a theoretical model.) But the idea that this is evidence of artificiality is laughable.
[4] ESA radar blog

** It turns out that Hoagland did not create the image. He took it from a space art gallery unattributed. He also grievously annoyed artist Walter Myers by embedding Myers' copyrighted artwork further down the page without permission. Myers wrote that he did not want his work associated with Hoagland's pseudo-science.

UPDATE: Hoagland stone-walled all attempts by Walter Myers to get in touch with him about the copyright problem. However, his ISP, Bluehost, itself removed the image on 10th April when Myers filed a complaint with them. It is now replaced by public domain art. Richard Hoagland should be ashamed.

UPDATE 2: Part II was self-published on 14th April, and it did in fact include Before/After images showing the effect of so-called noise reduction. The results, in Hoagland's usual breathless and unreadable style, were so unconvincing as to be laughable. His claim to have revealed detail that ESA intended to keep hidden simply cannot stand.

Even some of his loyal supporters on FB choked on his assertion that "You can almost count the rivits [sic]."

In an astounding demonstration of his contempt for copyright law, Hoagland once again posted a prominent piece of copyright-protected artwork, this time the work of Don Davis. He also placed watermarks on some ESA images that appeared to claim copyright by Enterprise Mission. Whether by accident or intention, the (C) symbol actually appeared as (@). FAIL.

24 comments:

Biological_Unit said...

I understand what RCH is doing.

He gets to say the different Space agencies are "degrading" images.
However, when he perceives a need for some "evidence", he gets Keith Laney to fool with various imaging programs.

There is a huge Double Standard here. He gets to say NASA=Noise and whatever KL provides is "valuable evidence".

expat said...

Bio Unit: I assume this means that you name or alternative pseudonym is George Benkel (of Hamilton, Ontario), since very similar thoughts were posted under that name on Facebook, and at about the same time. Hi, George.

Biological_Unit said...

Yes it is.

Hello.

I have a Website that is nearly as good as TEM. I have the most informative Website of alleged UFO Sounds in the entire known Universe - hijackthatufo.net.

My connections to Tavistock or Nazi-Islamofascists are not up for discussion !!

Viva Che !

Hidden Missionary said...

Hi Expat,
I'm here because I take issue with this 'Biological unit' guys comment-
So I'm addressing him here, excuse the interruption.

Biological unit..
Just because your name alludes that you're a dick doesn't mean you should actually act like one.

Let me get something straight for you, because you seem to be in ignorance.
I cleaned the ESA Phobos image up, yes I did, is it not a damn shame that they couldn't have done so themselves? My 12 year old could have done a better job at it than they did.

(and no, my site was absolutely not destroyed for showing it)

I reckon you must not know much about imagery, because plain and simple, The ESA Phobos image we're referring to here was an overpixellated histogrammatic mess.

In case you haven't heard, and you obviously haven't-
I've cleaned all sorts of space imagery, including images used by NASA to land rovers, and as well images used for NASA History-
There is no collusion between myself and RCH as you imply.
That's a myth, and you're no better than a fat gossipy housewife.
I am not responsible for what others say about my work, you should have asked me before shooting off your mouth- but of course, gossips are not interested in truth, just making themselves look like they're more than they are.

So I'd appreciate it if you'd keep my name out of your mouth and off your keyboard, especially seeing how you haven't a clue about me.

Stick to recording UFOs because investigatory commentary obviously is not your forte.

expat said...

You're welcome to comment here any time, Keith.

Biological_Unit said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Biological_Unit said...

The Grids of Mars are the result of planet-wide Electron-Deposition Machining.

This does not support the theories of RCH in the slightest !! Of course, you don't "do" theory - this allows handy-dandy fakery because you don't get all hot-and-bothered with "facts".

I don't see the "Blockines" image. This embarrassing hoax was abandoned, apparently.

I never recorded a UFO. I downloaded this sound. I clearly stated this on my Website.

Keep up the Good Work confirming all the predictions of the Electric Universe theory, and none of that Dog's Breakfast of RCH's "work".

Biological_Unit said...

An extraordinary, geometric, clearly artificial, fractured 3-D surface

No, it isn't. Grooves like that are ALL OVER the Solar System. Once again EU theory triumphs.

Keith has cleaned some Space Imagery and your connection to RCH is only by the TEM forum. Good for you ! You're a Photo enthusiast into Death Metal or something. I wondered why your Website hasn't changed much in years. Perhaps that incredibly hostile desert is just an incredibly hostile desert. I thought everyone knew that ...

Biological_Unit said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Biological_Unit said...

The ESA Phobos image we're referring to here was an overpixellated histogrammatic mess.

Big Words, but gossipy ...

Come on - you get called on by a Criminal Network to further the goals of a Criminal Network. It`s called Reality. Look into it !

Biological_Unit said...

Keith Laney,
Keith Laney,
I heard the corrupt Media sing your name.
Back to your hidey-hole in the hollers of Norf Carolina - a backwater of a backwater.
You`ve been colluding with Criminals, and youze get paid for results.
Be angry ! Get Mad ! Expose other criminals in your network !

Biological_Unit said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Hidden Missionary said...

Thanks Expat,
I found your blog after wondering why you'd not posted at my forum for a while (though I was not really sure it was you other than the "fail" comment you like to use, lol)

I see your own blog is not immune to nutters posting, (lord don't I identify with that circumstance) and I'd have this particular one know that "Norf" Carolina is FAR from a backwater- well, unless you count Gastonia that is.

I'm from Charlotte, which is about as Backwater as San Diego.

and FYI, The "Blockines" image you refer to is still at my site, along with a huge write up as to what I think they really are- I never said they were a city under anything, which is testament as to what some of us enthusiasts get whn we try to investigate something and others take and run with it before I'm through analyzing it... one thing for certain, it sure made some great IR color overlays.

So why don't you instead go back to your hidey-hole of an excuse for a website, record UFO sounds, and pester Expat from there.

At least Expat does come up with thought provoking rebuttals to extraordinary claims.

Have a nice Day Expat, see ya around.

Jack Wednesday said...

Its utter nonsense, Remember the "smoking gun" from a few months back with that dodgy looking infra-red picture of nothing.

Hoagie is a great salesman but he is low on substance, What is more scary is his army of sycophants on facebook, one in particular called Max seems very unhinged.

Biological_Unit said...

one thing for certain, it sure made some great IR color overlays.

So what.
Do drugs enhance this ?

You don't think any of My images are cool ? I never recorded a UFO Sound, I clearly stated that.

Biological_Unit said...

an excuse for a website

How long has most of TEM been "Under Construction" ? Oh, right, you have no connection to RCH.
I'm responsible for every aspect of my Site - there are no fake portals that make a false impression of important goings-on.
I downloaded the UFO Sound from an American who could not afford Health Care and then died quite young of a Heart Attack. This doesn't happen in any other industrial nation. Mars Revealer is also severely ill. He gets ignored because his former friends are backbiting, scheming snakes who don't have an ounce of integrity.

Biological_Unit said...

Keith's Hidden Mission Forum speaks for itself.
Robert rhw007 has just commented about Weeds, an entertaining show about a Jewish family that sells mind-altering drugs because they were traumatized by the Holocaust.

Biological_Unit said...

Keith Laney: insert angry noise

The USA peaked in 2005. Knob-twiddler for a broken, broke NASA. Back to the Dirt farm you go, talentless hick. Unwashed slack-jawed yokel, expert in manure and reeking of farm diesel.

Biological_Unit said...

Keith, how does it feel having neighbors who work over "furriners" with Power Tools ?
It must be nice living with Lynndie Englund in Appalchistan, where nobody died of starvation in the 1930's.

(well, it wasn't reported in "nice" newspapers)
P.S. Expat would understand Norf Carolina. It's like Yorkshire.

Biological_Unit said...

How do you feel about Lynndie Englund, the above-mentioned Power Tool enthusiast, Expat ?

As a Soulless Automaton, you probably think she should be happy to have had any job at all. You probably plan every minor thing in detail, and go nuts when someone shifts your things.
There's a whole raft of things you never discuss. Don't you wish you were on a sailing ship as an Officer of the Royal Navy doing very nasty things to the lower ranks, whipping them and doing unspeakable things ...

expat said...

Bio Unit/George Benkel:
You're posting too much and your comments are needlessly offensive. Please stop it.

Biological_Unit said...

I understand that you lack a functioning personality.
I will convert to a Binary code that will appeal to your Borg sensibility.

Hidden Missionary said...

You are welcome to take me on at my forum BO

That is, unless you're scared

Hell, I'll even lock everyone else out so it's just us two.

http://www.keithlaney.net/THMF/phpBB3

You're a troll
and an uninformed one at best.
come, let me remedy you of your affliction.

Biological_Unit said...

Sure, I'll join your Forum where you set all the rules and can fool with whatever I post.
You peaked at Blockines, now no one even remembers you.