Skip to comments.
NASA Gets A Good Look At Mars Soil And A True Puzzle
Chicago Tribune/Yahoo ^
| 1-7-2004
| Jeremy Manier
Posted on 01/07/2004 3:41:30 PM PST by blam
click here to read article
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 101-120, 121-140, 141-160, 161-166 next last
To: Free ThinkerNY
I am sending you a bill for a new keyboard, my soda was spit all over it and I am grasping for air with laughter.
THanks, I need that today, good work!
121
posted on
01/07/2004 7:07:13 PM PST
by
Keith
To: RightWhale
fungus, algae
I agree. It looks like the sediments left when a lake is drained or dries out. The algae and zooplankton leaves sheets of sticky ooze.
122
posted on
01/07/2004 7:14:02 PM PST
by
gitmo
(Who is John Galt?)
To: blam
I think it's the result of poor camera resolution.
We'll know soon enough once the rover starts doing its job.
123
posted on
01/07/2004 7:15:14 PM PST
by
fso301
To: RightWhale
Pond scum So you are suggesting the French beat us to Mars? Nonsense!
To: blam
The discussion of the possible presence of water and hydrocarbons on or beneath the surface of Mars in this thread is very interesting. If Mars had been otherwise barren of water and hydrocarbons, there is still an infrequently occurring but continuous extra-Martian source for those materials: comets! Over the lifetime of Mars there must have been numerous impacts of comets on its surface.
On this website:
http://www.aas.org/publications/baas/v35n4/dps2003/358.htm
is found a list of the molecular compounds detected in the emissions of a recently observed comet, C/2001 A2 (LINEAR): "We detected numerous cometary molecules in A2, including H2O, C2H6, C2H2, CH4, HCN, CO, H2CO, CH3OH, NH2, and OH."
This leads to the question: if large comets impacted Mars, could that provide enough water to cause local flooding and the formation of streams that soon (on the astronomical time scale) dried up because of evaporation and/or absorption?
125
posted on
01/07/2004 7:24:32 PM PST
by
ngc6656
To: blam
Excellent article, blam - thanks for passing that along!
126
posted on
01/07/2004 8:08:49 PM PST
by
asb3pe
To: blam
I just wish they would land a probe here:
127
posted on
01/07/2004 8:22:25 PM PST
by
Brett66
To: e_engineer
I've seen dust stick like that to a surface, but perhaps it would not stick to itself via static, based on what you're saying. I'm starting to think I jumped the gun here...
128
posted on
01/07/2004 8:22:49 PM PST
by
Frank_Discussion
(May the wings of Liberty never lose a feather!)
To: Alas Babylon!; gatex
*slaps forehead*
Oy! You're right! Boy, I need to bone up on my chemistry. Thanks for setting me straight.
129
posted on
01/07/2004 8:25:13 PM PST
by
Frank_Discussion
(May the wings of Liberty never lose a feather!)
To: asb3pe
Oops! Missed your prefacing, wow is my brain missing a bunch today...
Still intrigued!
130
posted on
01/07/2004 8:27:17 PM PST
by
Frank_Discussion
(May the wings of Liberty never lose a feather!)
To: mewzilla
Very nice!
131
posted on
01/07/2004 8:28:14 PM PST
by
Frank_Discussion
(May the wings of Liberty never lose a feather!)
To: e_engineer
You don't need life to have oil. Astronomers have found great clouds of oil (codenamed PAH's Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons sp?) floating in space near the center of the galaxy. Oh, THAT? That's just pollution from SUV's (Stellar Utility Vehicles)...
132
posted on
01/07/2004 8:52:14 PM PST
by
null and void
(One hand giveth, the other taketh away...)
To: blam
Be a real bummer if the rover gets stuck in the mud.
To: The Shootist
I like Hydrogen Hydroxide myself. Scare with science I say!
To: blam
I have often wondered why there are sharp edged rocks on Mars after reading about 200 mph dust storms there. The wind storms can be high velocity, but Mars' atmosphere is very thin, so the erosion effect isn't as strong as one might think.
To: blam
No mud flaps...Hmmm...could sling that stuff all over, huh? Probably not. I don't know the top speed of the current rover, but the one that landed several years ago moved at speeds best described as a crawl.
To: Brett66
What the heck is *that*?
Definitely intriguing. At first glance it looks like some sort of forest.
What's the scale on that?
To: Slicksadick
WOW...Fabulous!!
To think that in all ETERNITY that we on earth could have the only life is somewhat ridiculous.
To: Ichneumon
The umm... feature in that scene would be about a kilometer in diameter. If these were Martian Banyan trees, they would be a about 6x larger than some of the Earth variety. I'm struggling to maintain my scientific scepticism here, so maybe it's just a peculiar ice formation. Mars is just plain wierd, it has a lot of mysteries.
Trees on Mars?
On this site, a geologist says it could be some kind of radial drainage pattern. D@mn peculiar!
Are there Trees on Mars?
139
posted on
01/07/2004 9:53:21 PM PST
by
Brett66
To: Doc Savage
Apparently the scientists did not notice a strange black crusty pant suit lying nearby the lander. This explains the apparent wetness, strange odor and fungi Spirit has detected. You might have something there... Could be the airbags are from the bottoms of used pant suits that her hideous donated for the tax right off. They just couldn't get all the slime off and besides, it helps to seal any leaks.
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 101-120, 121-140, 141-160, 161-166 next last
Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson