Marree Man is a geoglyph in South Australia purporting to show a hunter with a weapon which has puzzled scientists for decades. The new NASA image was shot by the space agency’s Operational Land Imager satellite and released as part of its Image of the Day feature.
Marree Man landmark was only discovered in 1998 by a pilot flying over the outback territory north of Adelaide.
The mysterious artwork is 2.2 miles from head to toe.
His outline measures 17 miles around the full perimeter.
Marree Man covers such a large space it can only be appreciated in full from the heavens.
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There have been several rumours about Marree Man’s creation.
Some people claim the artwork was simply a publicity stunt while others believe the anthropomorphic image is either a message to aliens or was even built by them.
NASA has revealed new pictures of the incredible “work of Earthern art”, yet has failed to solve the mystery of its creation.
NASA wrote in a statement: “Who created the geoglyph and why has long been a topic of controversy and remains unknown, despite the recent announcement of a cash reward for credible information about it.
“There are indications that an artist living in Alice Springs may have created Marree Man, though other clues suggest that the creator may have been an American.”
The awe-inspiring carvings had begun to fade over the years and the Marree Man had almost disappeared entirely by 2016.
This caused locals from the nearby town of Marree to began an effort to preserve the iconic carvings.
Locals used a construction grader to retrace the carvings back into the ground at a deeper level than before.
This was intended to reduce wind degradation and to trap water to eventually encourage vegetation to grow, turning the Man green.
In the course of restoring the original, the scientists discovered more than 250 bamboo stakes placed at 30ft (9m) intervals.
The researchers think the stakes were used by the original creator as a guide to mark out the first carvings.
However, the mystery of why the Marree Man was first created endures.
A year after the carvings were first discovered, a series of anonymous faxes were sent to local officials, pointing to an area near the Man’s head where a plaque had been left featuring the American flag, Olympic rings and a quote from a book about aboriginal hunting practices.
Locals have claimed the whole enterprise was actually engineered by artist Bardius Goldberg, who allegedly admitted responsibility on his deathbed in 2002.
There is currently a $5,000 (£3,786) cash reward for anyone able to offer conclusive evidence to prove the carving’s provenance.
