Interesting Mars Rocks with Notable Features

Finally getting back to areas where we're not just looking at cracked bedrock. I'm still pondering this one:

mars.jpl.nasa.gov...

And this little cluster from another thread:

mars.jpl.nasa.gov...

I guess what happens is that some kind of mud (?) leaked out of cracks in the rock and dried in these root-like shapes.

a reply to: Blue Shift

Mhmmm.

Fossils?

a reply to: Blue Shift

One of my favorites..

a reply to: Blue Shift

Hey is there a easier way of looking through Mars pictures ? Going through each sol on Nasa's site is very tedious .

originally posted by: Blue Shift
Finally getting back to areas where we're not just looking at cracked bedrock. I'm still pondering this one:

mars.jpl.nasa.gov...

And this little cluster from another thread:

mars.jpl.nasa.gov...

I guess what happens is that some kind of mud (?) leaked out of cracks in the rock and dried in these root-like shapes.

Why does it appear that NASA never closely examines the weirdest looking rocks? I want closer looks at these things!

a reply to: Gargoyle91

Hey is there a easier way of looking through Mars pictures ?

Build a rocket, and fly to Mars.

Of course it depends on what the definition of easy is.

My favourite is still this one, I'd definitely appreciate an explanation.



I found this about 2015-16? I can't remember now.



Taken from this crop:



Stuff I'd like explained really.

a reply to: Jonjonj

Ooh, that one's interesting.

originally posted by: watchitburn
a reply to: Jonjonj

Ooh, that one's interesting.

It is indeed. I posted it to the Mars anomalies thread and it got some interest but there was also some problems at that time so it kind of got lost in the noise really.

a reply to: Jonjonj

I like these threads, I want us to find cool stuff on Mars. But unfortunately all the pictures I've seen are too inconclusive or up for interpretation.

That's the 1st one I've seen that actually looks like it could be something other than a rock.

My favourite mars rock is the one that looks oddly out of place on a weird angle and like there’s a tube coming out of it.

originally posted by: Gargoyle91
a reply to: Blue Shift

Hey is there a easier way of looking through Mars pictures ? Going through each sol on Nasa's site is very tedious .

A lot of people like to look at Gigapans. In many ways they're better and contain higher quality images. I do it the old-fashioned way.

All of these are natural geological formations.

No, they won't drive closer and look.

Just trust JPL, they look at what they want to look at for science reasons.

It's too complicated to explain, you wouldn't understand. Just trust JPL, they know what they are doing.


My advice, if you have a problem with the way NASA and JPL does things, voice that opinion with voting, lobbying, and campaign platforms involved with their funding.

Your cries on the internet mean nothing to them.

Dollar bills disappearing out of their pocket, however. That gets noticed.

My own personal motto: "If you can't justify why you ignore anomalies, I can't justify giving you my tax dollars."

originally posted by: watchitburn
a reply to: Jonjonj

I like these threads, I want us to find cool stuff on Mars. But unfortunately all the pictures I've seen are too inconclusive or up for interpretation.

That's the 1st one I've seen that actually looks like it could be something other than a rock.

I wouldn't mind someone just saying something about it to be honest.

But so far crickets.

a reply to: Jonjonj

I look at these every day.

You have a nice find.
My best conventional explanations include that boulder to the top left of the object in question.

If it was part of an overhang that snapped off, it could explain the appearance of those segmented bits.

Either way though, even that rock to the top left looks odd. It appears to have a larger mass, with a newer crust over it. Like a large boulder that got dislodged, then covered over by dust/debris over time.

Possible calcium and/or mud veins that dried up or froze.

Could even have some carbonate structures, although with the carbon ratio on Mars, that's about as far stretch as saying it's a meteorite from Earth, with ancient Earth debris. (Actually a possibility, but remote.)

All those ideas aside, it's good. We should have looked at it with MAHLI. We didn't.

I don't even need to go check. We wouldn't have driven on to that sandy looking hill. It would be a risky maneuver, even for Curiosity.

Sad. It looks worth seeing, but I'm certain we didn't risk our $2 billion dollar RC car for it.

Finds like this, I would imagine, will be more abundant by the time Exomars arrives, and the 2020 rover.

My own contribution to this thread.

Sometimes, the black and white images have something, interesting.

Not sure if anyone else is waiting for us to get to that really dark black rectangular plateau we've been approaching for about a month now, but I'd really like some more MAST cam images of it. So far, it's only in the nav cam images, so I've been sifting through the recent nav images.

This find is from SOL2119

All of the nav cams got it, and in two separate shots. So I have 4 different views of this exact same anomaly.

i.imgur.com...

It's a bit harder to call something an "artifact" if you get 4 images of it, from two separate cameras.
I like it when I can find multiple images of something neat.

a reply to: Blue Shift

The second one in the OP looks like 2 pieces of metal.

a reply to: SecretKnowledge

Very possible.

Have you seen Curiosity's wheels lately?

They are Swiss cheese, at this point.

Also, odds are, there is some Earth mission garbage on Mars that could include metal.

We've had something like two dozen missions around Mars that have definitely left intact junk around.

PS, consider that our space junk, which falls to Mars, doesn't burn up in a thick atmosphere.

At less than 1 percent of Earth's atmosphere, that junk will hit the ground of Mars and just be damaged from the impact force.

Bits of metal will be scattered around.

a reply to: Blue Shift

How about eyeballs and teeth !! youtu.be...

a reply to: 727Sky

I like that image as much as the next tinfoil hat wearer.

However, it's not perfectly symmetrical. Seeing a recognizable shape and pattern, in this case, is most likely just our imaginations.

If that thing had perfect bilateral symmetry, I guarantee JPL and NASA would have driven right up to it.

However, round shapes like the "eye" are commonplace in nature, even non-living nature.

When molten rock splashes around and cools, it will tend towards spherical shapes.

Rocks will wear down, and have rounded edges, over time.

Craters and falling debris will make nice circular pads, which give rise to more circular appearances.

If just the surface of a rock heats up, and then cools down, you will approach spheroids as well.

Many many reasons, even just random chance.

Given how poor the overall resolution is, with any of Curiosity's individual cameras, the appearance of teeth, is possibly a complete camera artifact. Even if it does actually appear that way, Mars gets cold. Very, very cold.

Freeze damage to rocks, can make cracks that look like that "teeth" structure.

I fully believe in the possibility of actual current life on Mars.

I just don't think this particular rock, is a golden goose. More like, a rubber ducky, at best.