The wiki informs that the Glat Earth Society believes the Apollo landing program is a hoax.
what is the FET explanation on the retroreflectors left on the moon by the Apollo missions?
Let me get this straight: people are derided for seeing pyramids and architecture on mars and using that as evidence for intelligence on mars. But people who detect retroreflectors on the moon and use that as evidence for intelligence on the moon are applauded and praised. Am I missing something here?
Pickel, the "pyramids and architecture" on Mars was a result of poor quality imaging and/or odd lighting causing an optical illusion. Take, for example, the apparent "face of Mars": https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Martian_face_viking_cropped.jpg. This is an image of the region of Cydonia that was taken in 1976 by the Viking 1 orbiter. When this photo was released, it was thought to be, by some, a product of aliens. This image is of a somewhat poor quality and the shadows do seem to resemble a face. More than 20 years after this photo was taken, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took new photos of the feature: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/de/Face_on_Mars_with_Inset.jpg/425px-Face_on_Mars_with_Inset.jpg. As you can see, it was simply an optical illusion, created by odd lighting, and poorer image quality.
The same goes for other features. Pyramids on mars aren't pyramids, they're rocks. I know the image you're likely referencing too. It's possible that the "pyramid" is just a volcanic rock. These rocks tend to have sharp edges. The darker part of the pyramid is just a shadow. Again, optical illusion.
Yes, people are derided for seeing architecture on Mars because we know, for a fact, that there's no sentient aliens on Mars. Any life living on there is likely deep underground, and in the form of tiny microbes, hidden away from the surface of Mars.
As for the reflectors, we put them there. We know they're there. We know they aren't illusions, because we made them.
How can you use "we know that life doesn't exist on mars" as a reason to reject the "architecture" on mars? You're resorting to the appeal to ignorance fallacy. And your premise to the retroreflectors being manmade is also fallacious (appeal to authority). The government and NASA tell you it's theirs, and that's all the "proof" you guys need!
Straw man. I never claimed that life not existing on mars is a reason to reject the architecture. I said sentient aliens can't exist on Mars and people who believe so can be derided. We have multiple reasons why sentient, complex life can't exist on Mars: 1. The environment of Mars in its barren atmosphere is deadly to all life exposed on it, except maybe tardigrades. 2. There's no liquid water currently on Mars. Life needs liquid water in some form. 3. Going along with 1, Curiosity rover measured the radiation to be 76 mGy/year. This essentially sterilizes the surface of any exposed life. 4. Mars has no magnetic field, meaning that cosmic radiation kills any exposed life. 5. Tardigrades would barely survive a few days as a result, and no cell, no matter how hardy, would survive for reasons mentioned before. Proof:
https://www.space.com/g00/3396-study-surface-mars-devoid-life.html?i10c.encReferrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9lbi53aWtpcGVkaWEub3JnLw%3D%3D&i10c.ua=1 and
https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2011/pdf/1977.pdf. 5. Martian regolith contains perchlorates, which are harmful to most life. 6. Nitrogen is basically essential for life, after Carbon of course. There's some N2 in Mars's lower atmosphere, but it is insignificant, and can't support nitrogen fixation. Proof:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23560417. 7. Mars's atmosphere is thin, too thin for nearly all life. Very few microorganisms are able to survive at Mars's atmospheric pressure (1-14mbar). There's some evidence that some bacteria are capable of cell replication at 25mbar, but this is greater than Mars's atmosphere. Now. Is life on Mars? Evidence leans to no. BUT, it is certainly possible that microorganisms exist a few meters underground, or in the polar caps. If you want to read more on it, here's the wiki article. It basically highlights all I've mentioned above and more:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_on_MarsThough it may be a fallacy of ignorance, the evidence we have that there is no life on Mars is overwhelming and provides some scientific backing to the rejection of sentient life on Mars. YES, there's a possibility of life on Mars, but is it sentient, complex life? That answer is a nearly certain no. We have satellites orbiting and taking photos of Mars on the daily. Would life not be visible to them?
As for the apparent appeal to authority, no, it isn't fallacious. We have significant proof that there does indeed exist a reflector or device of some sort on the moon where we claimed to have placed them. It may not be a retro-reflector, but it has to be a man-made object up there. Independent scientists and organizations, with the right equipment, have confirmed the existence of some reflecting object up there. NASA isn't a lone source. The soviet agency also put a reflector up on their probe missions. This has been confirmed. Independent agencies have bounced lasers off the reflectors. They aren't affiliated with NASA.