Did Mars Phoenix pop a spring, lose a screw or what?

Did Mars Phoenix pop a spring, lose a screw or almost land on a shell or fossil by the landing pad. Ok I'm gonna stoke the fires a little bit here before NASA does something stupid like smash, bury or grind this thing into the dirt just to get to there precious ice, if you will check out the pictures i have posted that have been coming in from the Mars Phoenix you will see something that looks like a screw or bolt coming out of the sand. NASA has failed to give us a good hires picture of it like they have another landing pad. They only seem to be interested in ice. Some one please wake these guys up and NASA or the University of Arizona and get us a better picture of this or at least a good cover up story that it fell off something when it landed or is a piece of the mars polar lander crash.

See more pictures www.openfuelresource.com...

[edit on 1-6-2008 by scorpio9gm]

Sorry guys i could not figure out how to post the pictures if you visit the link you will see what im talking about. Anyone got any ideas what that is?

Looks like a metallic screw to me. That's usually not a good sign, haha.

Yeah I agree and funny they haven't said a thing about it... Oh damn we lost a screw. LOL i don't know i think i would be looking at it a little closer before i started digging for my ice which i think they have found, Im not knocking the mission as for looking for the ice.. But if i was a engineer and saw something that looked like a screw on the ground by and lander pad i would be more then curious as to where the heck it came from... and had tones of hires pictures of it. Also is it me or do these pictures seem a wee bit small and lowres. i Guess there keeping all the good stuff for them selfs.

Whatever it came from I guess it's not slowing things down too much, they seem to be carrying out what they want to do without too many hitches. I heard the arm or whatever got stuck at one point, but since they can control it all the way back here I guess that's not too much of a problem. Should be interesting hearing them try to gloss over that screw if it did come from something that wasn't supposed to release a screw, though.

[edit on 1-6-2008 by davion]

I have enhanced the image lg_1044 by 200% i think it is the best i can do with the detail that is there. From what i see it seems to be hollow to me like a spring. Really wish NASA would get a closer look at it. I have posted the new enhanced photo.

www.openfuelresource.com...

Good find!! It looks like a fossil to me! I can't believe they would pop a screw ( or have a screw ) as it could get in the way of the "dig", looks like some kind of fossil shell, I found a "fish head/animal head fossil " ( see my avatar) on spirit rover pan cam SOL 006- so a shell/ fossil seems normal to me! Again good find!

NASA missed this one also !!



[edit on 1-6-2008 by RUFFREADY]

reply to post by RUFFREADY


So far I have narrowed it down to be 3 things, a spring, screw or small fossil. At first glance it looked like a spring because the top portion of the item looks hollow and of course takes the shape of downward curls or spirals usually made by a Spring.

The 2nd thing that comes to mind would be a screw although it looks some what tapered as it goes into the Martian soil. The head of this object does not look like a screw head I have seen in the past it actually looks open or hollow to me at the top.

The 3rd thingy it could be is a spiral cone shell found on beaches on Earth, with an opening at the top and spirals downward and tappers to a point at the end of the shell.

The thing that is intrequeing to me is that the layer of loose Martian soil above the ice is not frozen. It is possible the surface is not frozen due to the lack of surface moisture. This seemed to be apparent when viewing the loose soil beneath the lander that showed 2 patches of ice.

When the parachute or heat shield was deployed it could of been part of the mechanism screw or spring that opened up and hitched a ride to the surface and jarred loose during landing. Rik Riley


[edit on 1-6-2008 by rikriley]

reply to post by rikriley



Good observation! It there thats for sure! We all see it! I just can't wait to hear what the folks at NASA say. They all are (the ones in the know) probably in a big meeting, brain storming what there going to say.

It looks to be buried a little too deeply to be "new" doesn't it?
RR

Originally posted by scorpio9gm
I have posted the new enhanced photo.

www.openfuelresource.com...

If I am inferring correctly that the OFR site is yours, the "sponsered links" sidebar is covering up the enhancement pic. I had to save it over to my PC just to view it. You should fix that code.

Thanks allot SystemiK I should know better then trust IE will render as good as firefox.

great find !

i think it's a fossil.......it doesnt look like any type of screw i have ever seen and what are the odds of a screw falling into that little hole it seems to be in ?

Thanks guys it really has my curiosity peeked now how can we get NASA to look at this thing? Do you think any of them are looking at this or do i need to email it to them? Im at a loss.

Originally posted by easynow


great find !

i think it's a fossil...

....it doesnt look like any type of screw i have ever seen and what are the odds of a screw falling into that little hole it seems to be in ?

It doesn't look like a screw to me either, but then again, it doesn't look like any fossil I have seen either.

I think people need to learn how fossils are made before saying something like this they see in a picture is a fossil.

here's a good start. How are fossils made

Time to have a quick look at this piccie......

ida.wr.usgs.gov...


Is this a 'baby' fossil of one of those huge 'tubes' running just under the martian surface ?????



'Tremors' anyone ?

One a serious note, great find

1. Look's like a shell.
2. It cannot be a screw.
3. It can be a spring. Pulling-spring, but it's hook broken off. But why is it white?

First of all, a fossil is simply a record of earlier life buried in rock. Originally meaning any distinctive object that has been dug up (from Latin fodio, dig), the term “fossil” soon came to refer particularly to things resembling animals and plants.

Secondly, even the narrow definition of a fossil that you linked to does not exclude the possibility of this being a fossil. From the link: "There are other ways that fossils can be preserved. Many animals have been found preserved in ice in Siberia." They are making a huge deal out of the ice right beneath the lander.

And finally as far as it being unlike any fossil you have ever seen. It is whole other planet so no surprise there. For that matter, I'm sure there are other fossils right here on earth that look like no other fossil you have ever seen.

Flag & star for you!!

Looks alot like a spring...when Phoenix landed, alot of dust was kicked up...the dust had to settle before the solar panels could be opened...so, it could be that a spring/bolt fell off and got covered as the dust settled.

But, I reaaaaalllly wish it would turn out to be a fossil

It looks pretty much exactly like a spring to me. A fossil would be nice, but if it's not a fossil, then it's not a fossil.