Mars unknown crater structure ~ Bizarro~

Very unusual stratified structure in a 1-km Martian crater. This is located in the Noachis Terra region, in surfaces ~3-4 billion years old. This image was acquired by the CTX camera in January 2008, and the scale is about 5.2 meters/pixel. Probably either a poorly camouflaged spaceship or a giant space moth taking a rest before flying into the sun....

Yep it is weird in a weird sort of way....It is truly sad we can not get people to Mars and back in a reasonable amount of time and alive, for no telling what they might observe.. A barren desert with some hidden nooks and crannies where life klings on inspite of the hostile conditions. Maybe just a dead world maybe not.. I personally have faith if that day ever comes they will find Bacteria present and still alive even if it is deep underground.. No proof just faith in the abundance of life in this here universe (said like an old Texas cowboy; accent and all).

There are smaller craters to the right of the main one focused here. They are no different other then size, lighting, Shadows, depth...

Spaceships and moths ?

Edit note: I skimmed over the OP too quickly, I see what your referring too. My idea of lighting, Shadows still stands, but does not explain the "stratified" effect being seen..

Hmm.. maybe Phage has more a clue. Will wait for more in depth information.

Thanks for sharing the picture

Funny how the last piece of a deep dish pizza comes to mind. Can you guess that I'm starving, lol?

I can't wait for more exploration to yield more fascinating secrets.

There are hundreds of other craters in the region, some are very similar in size and shape to this one, but no others contain a giant moth
The overall floor pattern of this crater is also uncommon for the region, but several other examples can be found.

a reply to: Elementalist

originally posted by: excentryk

Very unusual stratified structure in a 1-km Martian crater. This is located in the Noachis Terra region, in surfaces ~3-4 billion years old. Probably either a poorly camouflaged spaceship or a giant space moth taking a rest before flying into the sun....

Yes it does look odd..as most things on Mars do, but there does also seem to be a 'scar' running across the crater North/South or vice Versa, with a depression on each lip of the crater where the 'scar is running, and perhaps enough to allow material to build up at least on one side of the crater basin over a long time, perhaps ice as well as sand. If that was so though, it would need the wind to be pretty constant..say from the North/Northeast. Failing that perhaps a minute upwelling from underground over a long time, or even a combination of all that.

Maybe someone mined it. More going on there than people know. You think they would be sending civilians there on the planned mission. ( Mar One) Before gov and scientist went there? I don't. I think they need a work force.

a reply to: excentryk

Definitely a space moth, although based on the shape it could actually be the more rare space butterfly.

Interesting picture for sure!
Do you have the link for it?

a reply to: excentryk

Could you link to a hi-res image? Often these "look at this bizarre feature!" threads disappoint but this one does not. My first thought was some sort of landslide but the shadows don't look right at first glance, at least not at this resolution.

a reply to: excentryk

It looks like a quarry / strip mining setup.

Probably just a collapsed underground air pocket...

a reply to: excentryk

Notice how all the smaller objects to the left radiate outwards from the main structure, a little odd that half of the crater objects radiate out wards and the other half don't.

A: if the scale is really 5 mpp then whatever this is seems to rise considerably from the crater floor..
which obviously doesn't rule out ice etc but does make it significantly more interesting
especially given the uniformity of the strata variation.

a reply to: excentryk

Looks like the "S" from Superman... but then again, I'm tired... Maybe the Fortress of Solitude is on Mars instead of the arctic.

originally posted by: theantediluvian
a reply to: excentryk

Could you link to a hi-res image?

Right-click on the OP's image and select "View Image": files.abovetopsecret.com...

Personally, I'd love to know the coordinates for this location, so that I could analize the crater myself. Are there any HiRISE images covering that crater?

originally posted by: excentryk

...

I bet the crater floor looks very different with a pre noon time sun angle
lighting up that northern & western crater wall might remove the impression that the apparent strata is a raised quadrant just about taking up 1/4 of the crater floor

the other strewn material appears to be in a radiant direction like a more recent meteor or other foreign body crashed directly into the existing crater and destroyed 3/4's of a earlier crater floor

imagination might suggest a circular craft was hiding in the crater and got detected then pulverized by the opponent space vehicle leaving the strange artifact for future observers to guess about until an on-site examination is conducted...

? my guess is that any rovers are too far away to investigate with the means the Rovers have

Is it usual for Martian craters not to have ejecta around the edge? and not much of a crater lip either?

originally posted by: funkadeliaaaa
Probably just a collapsed underground air pocket...

That was the first thing that comes to mind having a lot of experience in the excavation field. It looks just like an unstable slope in the crater sloughed/slid and collapsed. I wouldn't even say it was necessarily an air pocket just a section that had steeper walls or less stable aggregate.

That looks very much like a aerial photo of a strip mine. I saw one of an actual strip mine not too far from where I live. It looked very similar to this picture - except for the crater of course. Very interesting pic.