Mars Rover Examines Weird Coating on Rocks

Weird coatings on rocks beside a young Martian crater remain puzzling after a preliminary look at data from examination of the site by NASA's Opportunity rover

From this article: Mars Rover Examines Odd Material at Small, Young Crater

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/9b75a67d4d16.jpg[/atsimg]

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity [is] perched on the edge of "Concepción" crater in Meridiani Planum, Mars

seen here
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/623d81561926.jpg[/atsimg]

"It was clear from the images that Opportunity took on the approach to Concepción that there was strange stuff on lots of the rocks near the crater," said Steve Squyres of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., principal investigator for Opportunity and its twin rover, Spirit. "There's dark, grayish material coating faces of the rocks and filling fractures in them. At least part of it is composed of blueberries jammed together as close as you could pack them. We've never seen anything like this before

The "blueberries are a nickname for the type of rock seen below
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Quite interesting, this was found in the youngest crater foundto date, and is just another example of thefact that there is still so much to discover on mars.

"It's possible that when you melt this rock, the sandstone melts before the blueberries do, leaving intact blueberries as part of a melt layer,"

Things like this make me want a push for NASA to put a man on Mars, but it seems that won't happen as they are losing alot of funding these days. NASA won'teven be building any new rockets to get to the multi billion dollar space station we helped pay for. If we want to go, we will have to hitch a ride from the Russians!

-E-

[edit on 24-3-2010 by MysterE]

That top one looks like either paint or a slime mold of some sort...

ohhhhhhhhhh are we starting to get clues of an ancient civilization of humans?!?!?

Could men really be from mars/!??!!

Oh this is great! Love it! I want more photos!

reply to post by wylekat


Ya, I wish we could get some of that stuff back to earth to examine in the lab.

-E-

ps. Mold=life

[edit on 24-3-2010 by MysterE]

That first pic looks like old wood to me. An old beam of some kind. But thats just me!

reply to post by Greenize


I thought the same also.

This might be the first evidence of life on different planets. It would be a great opportunity to colonize Mars and make it an abundant oasis.

Originally posted by MysterE

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/9b75a67d4d16.jpg[/atsimg]

Wow! That looks very organic! Almost like a build up of Lichens.



IRM

This is interesting. I never came across any of this before. Hopefully we can get evidence of another civilization in here somewhere.

Originally posted by Romantic_Rebel
This might be the first evidence of life on different planets. It would be a great opportunity to colonize Mars and make it an abundant oasis.

Only to destroy it like we did earth?

Originally posted by QuantumDeath

Only to destroy it like we did earth?

Haha,

What are you on about...

Are you willing to argue that the Earth has been "destroyed"?

That's an amazing picture. That's the stuff! Love it!

reply to post by Exuberant1


People let's not argue her. We're not destroying the Earth and we're not going to destroy Mars. I just like the idea of colonizing the red planet. Heck, If I was President I would be the first one on this planet to have an interest of colonizing another planet for Human and animal use.

Also, to my tired eyes, in the first pic, on the "beam of wood", look in the upper right hand corner...looks like a small green plant growing out of the object.

reply to post by InfaRedMan


It certainly does and in the photo you provided, I do believe that wood is the host to these growths! Just saying....

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/d2e3121c922f.gif[/atsimg]

This may be stranger than we imagine... Look closely at the shapes created by the "blue lichen"... Looks remarkably like North America (sans Florida) and Central America, with Greenland depicted, as well.

I've added Florida with an animation... Weird.

— Doc Velocity

reply to post by Doc Velocity


You have very good eyes my friend. I doubt there is anything out of the ordinary. But still it's very strange non the less.

Originally posted by Romantic_Rebel
You have very good eyes my friend.

Not so much good eyesight as, perhaps, an overactive imagination.

— Doc Velocity

reply to post by Exuberant1


I can only say this. A planet being destroyed by war. You ever heard of something called the Nuclear bomb?

Originally posted by Exuberant1

Originally posted by QuantumDeath

Only to destroy it like we did earth?

Haha,

What are you on about...

Are you willing to argue that the Earth has been "destroyed"?

Yeah E1... haven't you heard about these parallel timelines where Hollywood actors have come back to life and Australia and New Zealand are in different geological areas of the globe.

QuantumDeath must have time shifted from the dimension where Earth was destroyed. Talk about a stroke of luck in the 11th hour!

IRM

reply to post by QuantumDeath


Over 2000 nuclear weapons have been detonated so far - the Earth still has not been destroyed.