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Odd Things Encountered On Mars' Surface

Spooky Discovery on Mars Looks Just Like an Alien Doorway

DAVID NIELD
12 MAY 2022

One of the most recent snaps beamed back from the Curiosity rover on Mars has revealed a rather interesting feature in the rocks: what looks to be a perfectly carved out doorway nestling in the Martian landscape.

(...)

MarsDoor_600.jpg


https://www.sciencealert.com/this-cool-rock-formation-on-mars-looks-just-like-an-alien-doorway
 
Spooky Discovery on Mars Looks Just Like an Alien Doorway

DAVID NIELD
12 MAY 2022

One of the most recent snaps beamed back from the Curiosity rover on Mars has revealed a rather interesting feature in the rocks: what looks to be a perfectly carved out doorway nestling in the Martian landscape.

(...)

View attachment 55250

https://www.sciencealert.com/this-cool-rock-formation-on-mars-looks-just-like-an-alien-doorway
Don't go alone into the doorway. I said don't...bl**y, hell, every time... *runs*

(Also, how large is the opening?)
 
I kinda reminds me of Alice in Wonderland.

Where is the white rabbit ?

Go through the door for a Disneyland adventure.
 
Just a thought—

There are some unnatural sharp angles in that doorway ?
 
On 17th May, Curiosity passed close by some weird stalk-like objects:

View attachment 55775

One explanation is that these are the cemented fillings of ancient fractures in a sedimentary rock. The rest of the rock was made of softer material and was eroded away.

https://www.cnet.com/science/space/nasa-rover-spots-surreal-spikes-on-mars/
Another, less likely explanation - it's possible that those are ancient remnants left by lightning from when Mars had more of an atmosphere.
Lightning struck, fused the rock into fulgurites and then the softer surrounding rock was eroded away.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulgurite
 

'Unexpected': NASA Mars Rover Finds Shiny Foil Piece on a Rock


NASA's Perseverance rover spotted something that was not like the others on Mars. On June 13, Percy snapped a photo of a rock that had a strange-looking object stuck on it.

X-nasamarsthermalblanket.jpg


The object is a piece of foil with dots visible all across it. "My team has spotted something unexpected: It's a piece of a thermal blanket that they think may have come from my descent stage, the rocket-powered jet pack that set me down on landing day back in 2021," the rover team tweeted on Wednesday.

NASA JPL spokesperson Andrew Good told CNET the piece is definitely from a thermal blanket. "Less definite is which part of the spacecraft it came from – the team thinks the descent stage is a good possibility – or how exactly it got here (descent stage crashed two kilometers away; whether it landed here after that crash or was blown by the wind isn't something we know)," Good said in an email.

https://www.cnet.com/science/space/unexpected-nasa-mars-rover-finds-shiny-foil-piece-on-a-rock/

maximus otter
 
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'Unexpected': NASA Mars Rover Finds Shiny Foil Piece on a Rock


NASA's Perseverance rover spotted something that was not like the others on Mars. On June 13, Percy snapped a photo of a rock that had a strange-looking object stuck on it.

nasamarsthermalblanket.jpg


The object is a piece of foil with dots visible all across it. "My team has spotted something unexpected: It's a piece of a thermal blanket that they think may have come from my descent stage, the rocket-powered jet pack that set me down on landing day back in 2021," the rover team tweeted on Wednesday.

NASA JPL spokesperson Andrew Good told CNET the piece is definitely from a thermal blanket. "Less definite is which part of the spacecraft it came from – the team thinks the descent stage is a good possibility – or how exactly it got here (descent stage crashed two kilometers away; whether it landed here after that crash or was blown by the wind isn't something we know)," Good said in an email.

https://www.cnet.com/science/space/unexpected-nasa-mars-rover-finds-shiny-foil-piece-on-a-rock/

maximus otter
Obviously a weather balloon. :wink2:
 
What's This Weird Balancing Rock on Mars?

A roundish rock appears to be carefully balanced atop a jagged outcrop. How did that get there?

X-9a9ff60a11e032669c2be62910f27368.jpg


The photo was taken in Mars’ Jezero Crater by Perseverance’s right Mastcam-Z on Sol 466, which corresponds to June 12 here on Earth.

I emailed NASA to ask what the rock could be and whether there’s anything truly strange here. James Rice, a geologist on the Mastcam-Z team from the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University, wrote back to me:

Balancing rocks (sometimes called Precariously Balanced Rocks PBRs) of various sizes, ranging from small rock sizes (inches) to formations hundreds of feet high, are naturally occurring and not really that unusual. Often a balancing rock is in fact connected to the larger underlying rock by a stem or pedestal. The Martian balancing rock shown is found at the Rockytop outcrop near the base of the delta and was most likely formed after extensive aeolian (wind) and/or chemical erosion carved it out from the local bedrock.”

https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2022/06/whats-this-weird-balancing-rock-on-mars/

maximus otter
 
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What's This Weird Balancing Rock on Mars?

A roundish rock appears to be carefully balanced atop a jagged outcrop. How did that get there?

View attachment 56243

The photo was taken in Mars’ Jezero Crater by Perseverance’s right Mastcam-Z on Sol 466, which corresponds to June 12 here on Earth.

I emailed NASA to ask what the rock could be and whether there’s anything truly strange here. James Rice, a geologist on the Mastcam-Z team from the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University, wrote back to me:

Balancing rocks (sometimes called Precariously Balanced Rocks PBRs) of various sizes, ranging from small rock sizes (inches) to formations hundreds of feet high, are naturally occurring and not really that unusual. Often a balancing rock is in fact connected to the larger underlying rock by a stem or pedestal. The Martian balancing rock shown is found at the Rockytop outcrop near the base of the delta and was most likely formed after extensive aeolian (wind) and/or chemical erosion carved it out from the local bedrock.”

https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2022/06/whats-this-weird-balancing-rock-on-mars/

maximus otter
Or was it this guy...?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-61743516

Stone balancing: Using a challenge against physics to defy depression​

Sitting on a Jurassic coast beach with his two children about seven years ago, Kev Potts was inspired to try something puzzling he had seen on his local TV news.
The seemingly-impossible art of making gravity-defying stone sculptures, held together by nothing.
 
The Perseverance rover encountered what appeared to be a tangled clump of string lying on the Martian surface.

TangleOfRoverStringOnMarsUnderRover.jpg
String Theory: NASA Rover Discovers Strange Tangled Object on Mars

Here's the best evidence I've ever seen for water on Mars: NASA's Perseverance rover came across a tangled mess of string on Mars, which looks like snarled fishing line left behind by a frustrated angler. Where there's fishing, there's gotta be water, right?

Actually, this tiny piece of trash is likely something left over from Perseverance's parachute, or descent stage, or even the backshell, which all worked in tandem to bring the rover safely to the surface of Mars back in February of 2021.

Our lead image is a closeup view of the tangled string with Perseverance's onboard Front Right Hazard Avoidance Camera A. You can see how tiny the string is in this image below, comparing it to the rover's wheel and end of the rover's robotic arm. ...

Very likely, the Martian wind blew the string close to the rover. And like a tumbling tumbleweed, the string has now moved on, as by just a few days later, the string is missing from the scene. ...
FULL STORY (With More Photos): https://www.sciencealert.com/perseverance-discovers-a-tangled-clump-of-string-on-martian-surface
 
The Perseverance rover encountered what appeared to be a tangled clump of string lying on the Martian surface.


FULL STORY (With More Photos): https://www.sciencealert.com/perseverance-discovers-a-tangled-clump-of-string-on-martian-surface

As Perseverance is currently exploring an area that was once underwater and has been dubbed the "Enchanted Lake", there have been suggestions that what looks like a tangled knot of string could be a form of whip coral, as in 2nd (terrestrial) photo below.


yqrpc1awfeiac4sn_1658060112.jpeg

images (2).jpeg

In reality though, the object is likely to be a remnant from Perseverance's parachute descent system.
Looks like we really are behaving like litter louts on Mars!
 
Looks like we really are behaving like litter louts on Mars!
The phrase "start as you mean to go on" springs to mind. All those barren expanses on Mars would be a great place to dump all our non-biodegradable waste. Time to get those Earth-Mars dumper ships organised!
 
The phrase "start as you mean to go on" springs to mind. All those barren expanses on Mars would be a great place to dump all our non-biodegradable waste. Time to get those Earth-Mars dumper ships organised!

If the cleaners at JPL haven't done a 100% thorough job and the journey through space wasn't sufficient to kill off any little critters, then we could be introducing microbial life to Mars.
Wonder how those tardigrades on the Moon are doing?
 
NASA Gives a Detailed Analysis of all the Landing Debris Perseverance Has Found on Mars

A recent blog by Dr. Justin Maki, Imaging Scientist and the Deputy Principal Investigator on the Perseverance rover Mastcam-Z camera, provides a detailed account about the debris the entry, descent, and landing (EDL) system left scattered around the Martian surface while delivering the Perseverance rover to Jezero Crater. This blog highlights how much hardware goes into sending our brave, robotic explorers to the Red Planet while discussing the importance of imaging such debris.

26694_1-PIA25219-web-1024x748.jpg


“For example, on Sol 414 (April 19, 2022), the Ingenuity helicopter returned a detailed color image of the discarded parachute and backshell located 1 km to the northwest of the landing site.”

https://www.universetoday.com/15740...anding-debris-perseverance-has-found-on-mars/

maximus otter
 
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Perseverance Spies The First “Cat” On Mars

The latest publicly voted image of the week from the rover once again plays into our pareidolia. It has been described online as a cat loaf, the position assumed by felines when they tuck their legs and tail under themselves to look like an innocent bread product. The left side of the rock is the head in this interpretation.

Mars-Rock-Cat-2209.jpg

A completely unscientific internal poll at IFLScience instead sees the reverse, the left side of the rock is the backside of the cat in a pouncing (or biiiiiig stretch) position doing the characteristic cat butt jiggle. Another valuable suggestion was it looks like Wurmple, the caterpillar-like pokemon introduce in Generation III.

https://www.iflscience.com/perseverance-spies-the-first-cat-on-mars-65319

That’ll get FTMB’s many cat addicts slobbering…

maximus otter
 
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Perseverance Spies The First “Cat” On Mars

The latest publicly voted image of the week from the rover once again plays into our pareidolia. It has been described online as a cat loaf, the position assumed by felines when they tuck their legs and tail under themselves to look like an innocent bread product. The left side of the rock is the head in this interpretation. ...
A completely unscientific internal poll at IFLScience instead sees the reverse, the left side of the rock is the backside of the cat in a pouncing (or biiiiiig stretch) position doing the characteristic cat butt jiggle. Another valuable suggestion was it looks like Wurmple, the caterpillar-like pokemon introduce in Generation III.

https://www.iflscience.com/perseverance-spies-the-first-cat-on-mars-65319

That’ll get FTMB’s many cat addicts slobbering…

maximus otter
Is it Schrödinger's?
 
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Ingenuity helicopter gets something weird stuck on one of its legs.
The cobweb-like strip of material can be seen fluttering in the downdraft from Ingenuity's rotor blades and dropped off, falling to the ground, after a few seconds.

cobweb.png
cobweb2.png



 
Curiosity Spots Stone Duck On Mars

NASA’s Curiosity rover is exploring Mount Sharp, the massive mountain that forms a central peak in the middle of Gale Crater. Long ago, this crater was underwater and muddy deposits were left here as the water disappeared. Those turned to layered stones, eroded over billions of years by the planet's winds and dust storms. This can result in some very strange-looking geological features, and sometimes they ended up shaped like a duck.

duck-rock-on-mars.jpg

The image was processed by citizen scientist Andrea Luck and it was taken by Curiosity on October 22, 2022. The rover is currently exploring higher terrain at the mouth of the so-called Gediz Vallis on the slopes of Mount Sharp. Curiosity has spent 3,647 sols – Martian days – on the Red Planet and is still going strong.

Other curious "animals" spotted on Mars include a mouse, cat, and snake.

https://www.iflscience.com/curiosity-spots-stone-duck-on-mars-66123

maximus otter
 
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Curiosity Spots Stone Duck On Mars

NASA’s Curiosity rover is exploring Mount Sharp, the massive mountain that forms a central peak in the middle of Gale Crater. Long ago, this crater was underwater and muddy deposits were left here as the water disappeared. Those turned to layered stones, eroded over billions of years by the planet's winds and dust storms. This can result in some very strange-looking geological features, and sometimes they ended up shaped like a duck.


The image was processed by citizen scientist Andrea Luck and it was taken by Curiosity on October 22, 2022. The rover is currently exploring higher terrain at the mouth of the so-called Gediz Vallis on the slopes of Mount Sharp. Curiosity has spent 3,647 sols – Martian days – on the Red Planet and is still going strong.

Other curious "animals" spotted on Mars include a mouse, cat, and snake.

https://www.iflscience.com/curiosity-spots-stone-duck-on-mars-66123

maximus otter
Obviously Mars is the home of Medusa. :wink2:
 
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