Cancer Posted May 29, 2007 Report Share Posted May 29, 2007 Deep holes on Mars Haven't found a technical paper on these yet, but it seems like a Too Cool For Words phenomenon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comic Posted May 29, 2007 Report Share Posted May 29, 2007 Re: Deep holes on Mars Hrm. Looks like a martian version of a sinkhole. Mars' lower gravity and solar heating of subsurface ice apparently cause occasional pressure venting that can fling loose strata (note the traces running from one side of the hole where residual dust seems to have settled). This appears to be a natural, relatively recent (on a cosmological scale), structure. Why does NASA have to keep talking about 'life on Mars' (the most improbable conjecture) to 'explain' otherwise exciting and interesting phenomena well worth studying and appreciating for what they actually are? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted May 29, 2007 Report Share Posted May 29, 2007 Re: Deep holes on Mars For one, because alien life is the "holy grail" of space exploration. Everything else is at heart just information - interesting, probably useful, but ultimately just new facts to be recorded - but life on other worlds would have profound philosophical implications and fire the imagination. As a corollary to the above, it would also stir up public support (and likely government and corporate funding) for space exploration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McCoy Posted May 29, 2007 Report Share Posted May 29, 2007 Re: Deep holes on Mars Why does NASA have to keep talking about 'life on Mars' (the most improbable conjecture) to 'explain' otherwise exciting and interesting phenomena well worth studying and appreciating for what they actually are? When did they do that? They didn't say in the cited release that the holes could have been caused by living things, just that they might be an interesting place to look for martian microbes. I think you're right, it looks like a sinkhole, and if it is that's more evidence of liquid water on Mars very recently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted May 29, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 29, 2007 Re: Deep holes on Mars It looks like a sinkhole, but that's a wildly optimistic claim. On Earth, sinkholes usually develop in places with lots of groundwater and sedimentary bedrock (limestone), itself laid down at the bottom of large bodies of water. All of that would be stunning on Mars. Further, the pic legend says it's on the flanks of Arsia Mons ... which is a shield volcano, so one would expect igneous rock there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattingly Posted May 29, 2007 Report Share Posted May 29, 2007 Re: Deep holes on Mars Nah... It's where the Giant Ants and the Spice Worms live. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaxom Posted May 29, 2007 Report Share Posted May 29, 2007 Re: Deep holes on Mars Faulty CCD. This hole appears on *every* image and is where the instrument manufacturer put his thumb to press the CCD into the mount while building the instrument. Seriously though, NASA is a political organization and as such has some inherent flaws. Back when I was in grad school there was a mission to repair an ailing satellite. One of our profs saw who the mission planner was, handed a sealed envelope to the grad students and said "read this after the mission". He had the three failed attempts at automated or robotic repair and the eventual human spacewalk down to within 15 minutes each, including the successful spacewalk and announcement just in time for primetime news on the east coast. Since that time I have been a bit more skepitcal of any announcements on NASA headers. Generally, you can attribute the words to the required politics for funding the programs the author is interested in. This would also be why I am no longer an academic.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edsel Posted May 29, 2007 Report Share Posted May 29, 2007 Re: Deep holes on Mars So how many space probes have vanished upon their arrival at Mars and how many of them are currently being stored by the Martians in these holes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beast Posted May 30, 2007 Report Share Posted May 30, 2007 Re: Deep holes on Mars on a volcano could it be a colapse of a wall in a flow tube Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sociotard Posted May 30, 2007 Report Share Posted May 30, 2007 Re: Deep holes on Mars I'm curious, how do we know it's a hole? I see a black spot on a photograph. Did they radar scan the thing to know it's a hole? Otherwise, couldn't it just be a spot of very black nonreflective rock? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comic Posted May 30, 2007 Report Share Posted May 30, 2007 Re: Deep holes on Mars Yeah. My bad. I was thinking about a phenomenon I'd heard described near the Martian polar regions. Volcanic venting, collapses and so on also explain this picture very nicely, especially considering how huge the volcano is. Which makes it all the more worthy of study and exploration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted May 30, 2007 Report Share Posted May 30, 2007 Re: Deep holes on Mars Silly people. Y'all know what those holes are. They're the gun muzzles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaxom Posted May 30, 2007 Report Share Posted May 30, 2007 Re: Deep holes on Mars I'm curious' date=' how do we know it's a hole? I see a black spot on a photograph. Did they radar scan the thing to know it's a hole? Otherwise, couldn't it just be a spot of very black nonreflective rock?[/quote'] Technically, such a rock would cast a shadow and repeat imagings would show different shadows. I dunno if such an experiment has been done but since this is a repeat image of something that another device saw, I would assume that a comparison was made. Without changes in shape caused by shadows a hole is your best geometric bet but a smooth, flat, round patch of totally non-reflective material could do it... Occam's razor is the argument against. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inu Posted June 1, 2007 Report Share Posted June 1, 2007 Re: Deep holes on Mars So how many space probes have vanished upon their arrival at Mars and how many of them are currently being stored by the Martians in these holes? The footage from the probe is now classified. The hole was our only warning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mentor Posted June 1, 2007 Report Share Posted June 1, 2007 Re: Deep holes on Mars Silly people. Y'all know what those holes are. They're the gun muzzles. So using the Bugs Bunny approach, if we build enough giant index fingers with which to plug up the holes... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattingly Posted June 1, 2007 Report Share Posted June 1, 2007 Re: Deep holes on Mars "Mister Gibbs, bring the planet about and prepare to fire!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted June 3, 2007 Report Share Posted June 3, 2007 Re: Deep holes on Mars So using the Bugs Bunny approach' date=' if we build enough giant index fingers with which to plug up the holes...[/quote']We need a million square feet of white cotton just to sew the cartoony gloves! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.