alternatehistory.com

Mariner 4 was the first probe to take pictures of Mars. These were problematic as they showed a cratered, moon like terrain (which later proved to be not typical for Mars), and were in black and white, which did not help matters.
This coupled with the detection of a thin atmosphere, no detection of a magnetic field, and no detection of a radiation belt killed hopes for Mars being more than a dead world, perhaps with some simple life but nothing more.

Certainly the scientific data cannot be changed, but the presentation can. The black and white images, and those images being of a cratered terrain were shocking and in stark contrast to the hopes of a living planet, and did public relations damage which was never really repaired.

So how can the Mariner 4 probes findings be presented in a light which is not as starkly hope crushing? And is there any way that it could have taken color images and taken those images of a terrain area more typical of Mars as a whole?
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