Page 9 - 20120708 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - July / August 2012

The World’s Greatest Hoaxes The World’s Greatest Hoaxes Continued from Page 8 Tawana Brawley incident Ironic Science Reality: Emily Lakdawalla has another image that she In 1987 America was riveted to the story of a “tweaked” that shows another look at the heat young black girl named Tawana Brawley, who Flying Saucers on Mars shield when it is farther away from MSL: said she had been gang-raped by six white men, from Earth including several police officers. Rev. Al Sharpton and others fanned racial tensions and Universe Today accused police of a cover-up. The following year, following an extensive investigation (and revelations about contradictions in Brawley's “Irony: The first real flying saucer is from story), a grand jury concluded that the girl had Earth. And it landed on Mars.” hoaxed the incident. A New York prosecutor That’s a quote we saw via UT writer Ray successfully sued both Brawley and Sharpton Sanders, from a great graphic making its way for defamation. around the internet. But amazingly, it’s true. Above is a high resolution image from the Mars Science Laboratory’s MARDI instrument showing the heat shield falling away from the spacecraft and heading towards Mars, looking like a classic flying saucer UFO. This image shows the 4.5-meter (15-foot) diameter heat shield when it was about 16 meters (50 feet) from the spacecraft. “It is still mind-blowing to think that this The image shows so much detail that snapshot was taken by a spacecraft flying in the “You can actually see the stitching in the air above a different planet,” Emily wrote on the thermal blanket and some wiring” said Mike Planetary Blog. Malin during a press conference at JPL today. Here’s a new, higher resolution video of In other MSL news, Curiosity’s mast is the heat shield’s descent from what was deployed, evidenced by this shadow self- previously available: portrait: Amityville horror In 1974, six members of an Amityville, New York, family were killed by their youngest son, Butch DeFeo. The following year George and Kathy Lutz and their three children moved into the home, and soon, they claimed, they were supernaturally attacked by a demonic ghost or spirit. They collaborated with novelist Jay Anson, who embellished their tale, and the story was soon adapted into a screenplay for the hit film "The Amityville Horror." Investigators, This image shows the inside surface of the heat skeptical of their claims, were proven correct shield, with its protective multi-layered years later when DeFeo's lawyer admitted that insulation. The bright patches are calibration he and the Lutzes made up the whole thing, and all profited handsomely from the hoax. [] targets for MARDI. Also visible is the Mars Science Laboratory Entry, Descent, and Landing Instrument (MEDLI) hardware attached to the inside surface. Malin said that at this range, the image has a spatial scale of 0.4 inches (1 cm) per pixel. It is the 36th MARDI image, obtained about three seconds after heat shield separation and about two and one-half minutes before touchdown.