# Mars



## Maryjane

*Mars update*

_I have run across this little gem and wanted to share it, use your imagination. Found this when I was looking up info on the town square area of Cidonia in the search engins earlier. Allot more of this on the old Cassini meets Lord of the rings, if you are interested_









 Was the "Eye" Designed to Reflect Sunlight? 

1. Artistic Significance of "Eye" Feature 

The presence of a humanoid "eye" on the Face on Mars invites comparison to terrestrial sculpture. The inclusion of a structured "eyeball" in a piece of megascale sculpture is not a trivial artistic element. I propose that the Face is no exception, and that close study might reveal significance dulled by millennia of erosion. 

The anomalous rectangular cells surrounding the western "eye" may be more than an exposed structural mesh or tresswork, as hypothesized elsewhere. Their orientation suggests a decorative intent. If the Face's western side had been sand-blasted for a long period of time, as posited by geologist Ron Nicks, one might expect to see similar "celled" features elsewhere on the Face's exposed surfaces. Instead, the cells appear only around the "eye," suggesting that their placement may transcend mere architecture. 

2. Conspicuous Morphology 

I've described the "eye's" "iris" feature as a "faceted cone," an observation confimed by Chris Joseph's shape-from-shading perspective view (below). 






Correpondingly, colleague Kurt Jonach has illustrated the concept with the following image. While not a strict forensic description of the "eye," the illustration features an almond-shaped perimeter with a pyramidal object emerging from the center -- precisely what we see on the western side of the Face. 






Joseph and Jonach's renderings depict the "iris"/"pupil" emerging from its ellipsoidal basin. Interestingly, the curved array of conspicuous cells lining the "eye's" underside (on the area perhaps corresponding to a "cheekbone") seem centered on the protruding faceted cone, as if united in some long-lost aesthetic function. 






The radial array of empty cells surrounding the "eye" can be seen in this image from Jan., 2001. The faceted peak corresponding to an "iris" or "pupil" may have functioned as a "light collector." (See image of solar power station below.) 

3. "It's All Done with Mirrors" 

Could the empty cells forming the curved grid below the "eye" have once housed mirrors designed to capture sunlight and cast it on the elevated "iris"? This notion is consistent with an archaeological interpretation of the Face and offers a visually pleasing solution to the cells' conspicuous placement. Moreover, it might even be testable, given correct elevation data and a willingness to "reconstruct" the proposed mirror-system (either digitally or through classical sculpture). 

Perhaps the Face once literally "glowered" at the Martian night, confirming the hypothesis that it was meant to be viewed from above -- either by "Cydonians" or "us" . . . or both. 






A solar power plant. Note strategic radial placement of individual mirrors, identical to that of the cells beneath the "eye" on the Mars Face. The central "collecting tower" corresponds to the pyramidal "pupil" feature inside the "eye." 

It should be noted that modern solar energy plants use the same distinct radial method of "harvesting" and focusing sunlight as proposed above -- albeit for industrial purposes. Then again, could the Martian "eye" have served both as a brilliant "ornament" as well as a power generating station of some kind? If the Face was once an arcology housing remnants of a civilization beneath a faltering ecosphere, a solar generator of this sort would be useful in supplying cheap, plentiful energy. 






A proposed observatory composed of individual cells functioning in unison. 

At the same time, the illuminated "eye" would be fulfilling a metaphoric function, chanelling light into the Face just as a real eye allows light to pass through the pupil to be decoded into images by the brain. 

The Enterprise Mission's Mike Bara writes, in part: "Around the eye socket are a set of very regular, geometric shapes that can only be described as a sort of honeycomb cellular structure on the Face itself. Now it just so happens that this very anomalous and decidedly artificial pattern is exactly what Enterprise principal investigator Richard C. Hoagland predicted [...] we would find on the Face when we eventually got a good enough look: that the face was NOT just a 'Mt. Rushmore-type' recarving of an ancient Martian mesa, but a three-dimensional architectural, 'high-tech' construct. That, with high enough resolution, it would begin to reveal precisely those necessary (though now badly eroded) architectural details..." 

Maybe the light-reflecting theory provides the raison d'etre for Bara and Hoagland's "high-tech" interpretation of the radial cells. 



*7-5-01* 






 Possible Hexagon Near "Eye" 






Chris Joseph has outlined a hexagon near the center of the "disk" identified on the previous page. This is a potentially significant find, given the predominance of hexagonal formations on the Martian surface. Additionally, Mark Kelly and Chris Joseph have detected two more hexagons in Cydonia, both north of the Face. 

If the apparant hexagons are "real," could they be remnants of technological structures such as phased array telescopes or solar power stations? Or could the newly discovered hexagon on the Face be a decorative element, similar to a bas relief? 

The radial cells described in the previous article suggest a functional interpretation for the western "eye." (Rather than a single anomolous "bump," the "eye" seems to be a virtual complex of complementary anomalies.) The "disk" above the "eye" features a fine-scale chaotic texture not seen elsewhere on the Face's western half, suggesting now-vanished design elements. It's possible that the hexagon and radial cells served similar functions, if we are in fact looking at the remains of an "observatory" or power station of some kind. Only future images and exploration can resolve this matter. 

Erosion has taken an extreme toll on the Face formation. But there remain peculiarities worthy of methodical study. Interestingly, these peculiarities seem interrelated: an indication of conscious design as opposed to blind natural forces. 



*7-8-01* 






 New Poll Suggests High Acceptance of Artificiality in Cydonia 

220 visitors to The Cydonian Imperative website recently took part in an interesting, if unscientific, survey. When asked, "Given the available evidence, do you think there are artificial features in Cydonia?" 

*41%* responded "Absolutely." 

*17%* responded "Almost certainly." 

*17%* responded "Probably." 

*15%* responded "Maybe." 

*6%* responded "Probably not." 

*4%* responded "Absolutely not." 



*7-14-01* 






 Large Geometric Grid Found on Mars 






Keith Laney has discovered a large geometric grid on Mars that resembles the foundation of a terrestrial city. The regularity of the lines is remarkable and suggests intelligent design. Could this be a geological phenomenon? If so, it appears to be the first of its kind. 






These unusual rectilinear cells discovered by Richard Hoagland are reminiscent of Laney's Grid, although they appear much less uniform. 

Writes Lan Fleming: 

"The aspect ratio for the grid image was 1.6. Keith sent me the section of the raw image I had requested, and when I stretched it in the vertical direction by 160%, the grid lines cross at angles of almost exactly 90 degrees in some areas, +/- a few degrees. Although the lines do curve gradually from left to right over the length of the image, the 90 degree relationship seems to hold over most of the area. Also, the small light objects within the grid appear very blocky. 

"I thought at first this was due to overenlargement, but I don't think so [now]. I've increased the height [...] by a factor of only 1.28 while decreasing the width by a factor of .8, so the 1.6 aspect ratio still holds without enlarging so much vertically, and it _still_ looks blocky. It looks especially blocky where the grid lines are most closely aligned to the image axes, so there is probably some reinforcing interference from the pixel grid. But there is definitely a pattern there and the objects within the grid cells seem to be part of it." 



*7-15-01* 






 Peculiar "Crater" Next to "Grid" Resembles Cydonia Feature 






This unusual feature appears near the "Grid" featured above. Note the offshooting "ramp." The overall morphology is quite similar to that of the apparent dome discovered by Chris Joseph near the "Eras Mounds" and "Cydoniahenge" in Cydonia (see below). 






Shape-from-shading rendering of the "Grid Crater." 






The Cydonia "dome" discovered by Chris Joseph. Note semicircular "platform" inside caldera and offshooting ramp-like feature. 

In addition to locating the conspicuous circular feature shown above, Chris Joseph has demonstrated that the numerous intersecting lines comprising the Grid are _raised_, not cracks or depressions, as would be expected from stress-induced geological processes. 





 Back


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## mac1

*Re: Mars update*

Thanks Maryjane, thats an interesting article. Are you familiar with Hoagland's Enterprise mission at all? If not it might be worth a google search. He made some pretty incredible comparisons between avebury and cydonia a few years back. Granted an awful lot of what he has to say must be taken with an almighty pinch of salt, but some of it is really quite convincing. I am not sure how much I buy into his theoreys about advanced tetrahedral geometry, but the significance of 19.5 degrees seems astonishing, its hard to deny how much it pops up in both the ancient world and the solar system.


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## Maryjane

*Re: Mars update*

Ya the 19.5% turns up in the pyramids as well acurate enough one could plot the heavens with the pyramids. And I am aware of Hoglands enterprise mission, you never know. Up to just a couple of decades ago they thought Mars had always been an arid and dead planet, now in recent time we find all this evidence of once there being large amounts of free flowing water on the surface. I will be very surprised if they don't find some type of life either still alive possibly in underground water reservoires or in foselized forms in the soil or rocks. With as much water flow that is evident on the surface I would say there had to be a water table and if there was it's still there just beneath the surface. If they do find reminents or artifacts left by an inteligence it would have been long ago when Mars was still wet, they've long left. Finding any kind of life there would drasticly change our perspective on this universe.


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## Maryjane

*Re: Mars update*

_Another little piece of interesting news._

Cosmic Question

 By Joel Achenbach

  They say academic arguments are so vicious because the stakes are so low, but
Andrei Linde and Paul Steinhardt are arguing about something huge, something
truly cosmic: the fate of the universe.

 Linde and Steinhardt are two of the premier cosmologists of America and, as far
as we know, of this sector of the Milky Way galaxy. They study the origin,
structure and destiny of the universe, all the classic 3-in-the-morning
dorm-room questions that threaten to blow your mind. How big is the universe? Is
it infinite or finite, and if it's finite, where's the edge? How did it begin?
What will happen to it? Why does anything exist at all? 

  Linde, a Stanford professor, Russian-born, theatrical (he performs magic
tricks and acrobatics in his spare time), warned two years ago that the universe
might collapse in as little as 11 billion years. Recently he revised his
prediction, saying that the end might not come for at least 24 billion years.
"Cosmic doomsday delayed" reported one online science journal earlier this
month, throwing a sop to Democrats desperate for good news.

 Regardless of the timing, The End as Linde sees it would prove to be extremely
fatal to any living thing. Linde says the entire cosmos will begin to contract,
the galaxies rushing back toward one another, space itself heating up, our
oceans boiling off, Earthlife frying, until everything slams together in a
cataclysmic Big Crunch, all matter and energy, and indeed time and space itself,
compressed into an infinitely dense black hole.

  "All these galaxies will crash into each other, and the sky will be shining in
blue light, ultraviolet, then X-ray; the temperature will be very large and
everything will be just evaporated," Linde says.

 He isn't panicking. He speaks with a serenity that comes from knowing that this
bad stuff is a long ways away. He says, reassuringly, "Mankind will find many
ways of killing itself much earlier."

 But now comes Steinhardt, a Princeton professor, with a scenario that is just
the slightest bit sunnier. He suggests that our universe may be just one of two
universes, or "branes," that periodically collide. These two branes, Steinhardt
hypothesizes, have been bouncing off one another for untold billions of years.
The next time the invisible brane comes crashing back into our universe, we'll
see the laws of physics start to change.

 Physical "constants" will cease being constant. Gravity will strengthen (apples
falling from trees will hit the ground faster). The universe will collapse, as
in the Linde scenario -- "Unless we found a way of protecting ourselves, we
would be evaporated in the crash between these branes," Steinhardt says -- but
there's good news at his version of The End. There's a bounce! The whole
enterprise begins expanding again, inflating, and becoming once again a universe
that is sufficiently comfortable to permit people to wear shorts and T-shirts.

  Here is what Steinhardt says of Linde: "He will tell you many things depending
on which day you catch him."

  Linde on Steinhardt's bouncing branes: "Oh my God. Oh my God." (Deep breath.)
"It is a very interesting but a very wild speculation. . . . It's not science."

  The two men don't exactly rage at one another, but in phone interviews each
makes it clear he finds the other irritating and unpersuasive. 

 Every cosmologist would like to become known as the person who figured out the
destiny of the universe, but the facts are sparse and ambiguous. Cosmologists
tend to do a fair bit of arm waving. You get the feeling that a clever scientist
could prove on paper that the universe is made of cheese.

 At some level it's the ultimate esoteric topic. Our lives are lived in a
certain slice of space-time, so narrow that it really doesn't matter in any
practical sense whether the universe will expand or contract or
contract-and-bounce. But we also wouldn't be human if we didn't try to decode
the universe. There's a story there, written in starlight.

 Cosmologists are rambunctiously creative, painting pictures that inspire their
colleagues to engage in furious art criticism. There are art movements, and
splinter groups, and mavericks. Someday the current fascination with string
theory, for example (you know: the universe is made of very tiny strings that
vibrate at different frequencies), might be viewed as something lovely but a bit
beside the point, like Picasso's blue period.

  "The observations are not that definitive, so we have to build stories behind
our observations," says Alan Guth, a pioneering MIT cosmologist.

 The race to figure out the fate of the universe has grown more intense in
recent years as a result of a startling discovery. In 1998, the Hubble Space
Telescope obtained images of distant supernovae (exploding stars) that revealed
that the universe not only is expanding but is doing so at an accelerating rate.
A few years later, new observations showed that, many billions of years ago, the
expansion was actually decelerating. So the cosmos apparently downshifts and
upshifts. Second gear awhile back, fifth gear today.

  Something is causing the current acceleration, and this force, whatever it is,
seems to account for about 70 percent of the total energy in the universe.
Scientists call it "dark energy." That sounds better than "secret energy" or
"invisible energy" or "we-got-no-clue energy." 

  Scientists had long thought that the universe might have just the right amount
of stuff in it to allow gravity to slow the cosmic expansion to a nice, stable,
steady cruising speed, such that the universe would always be around, always
habitable. But what we see through telescopes doesn't support that happy
scenario.

 It looks for all the world as though dark energy will rip the universe apart.
It might take a trillion years, but everything we see -- every star, planet,
asteroid, comet, speck of dust and molecule of gas -- will decay and dissipate,
and in the end there will be essentially nothing at all -- the universe ending
with a whimper.

 "The universe will go on expanding forever. And will get cold and dark and
presumably ultimately lifeless," explains Guth, describing this scenario.

 Scientists have to follow the data, but they'd also like to find a model for
the future that's more interesting than an eternal wasteland. "I don't like it,"
Steinhardt says.

 Perhaps, Steinhardt says, dark energy is not a constant force but something
that can grow less dominant over time. If dark energy weakens, gravity could
reassert itself as a shaper of the universe, and the whole business could
contract again.

 Unfortunately, none of this can be measured directly at the moment. There's no
such thing as a dark energy detector. No one has figured out how to catch this
particular kind of lightning in a bottle.

 It could be that we're nowhere close to understanding what's happening in the
universe. The place always turns out to be bigger and more complicated than we
thought. In the 1920s we discovered that we live in but one of countless
galaxies of stars, and that all these galaxies are moving away from one another.
The universe is expanding. Hit rewind and we see that about 13.7 billion years
ago, everything in the universe was compressed into an unimaginably hot, dense
wad of energy. Something happened to transform that cosmic knot into a vast
universe. It all went bang -- but why? How?

 In the early 1980s, Guth, Linde, Steinhardt and others developed a provocative
theory called "inflation," which suggests that the tiny embryonic universe went
through an extremely brief (fraction of a second) inflationary epoch, increasing
from something smaller than a pinhead to something cosmic in scale.

 Steinhardt has more recently developed the hypothesis of colliding branes, an
attempt to incorporate string theory into cosmology. Steinhardt's scenario has
many moving parts and requires unseen dimensions of space. He admits it's still
a maverick view, and perhaps it will always be hard to get converts to a new
theory that is built on the assumption that we're going to collide with a hidden
universe.

 Steinhardt, however, has no monopoly on mind-bending theories. Linde has spent
years talking about the possibility that a scientist might be able to create an
entire universe in a laboratory.

 You'd only need a speck of matter, Linde says. If you could get it to start
inflating, it would eventually turn into a whole new gigantic galaxy-filled
universe. For reasons that are pretty much lost in translation between scientist
and journalist, the creation of this new universe somehow doesn't destroy the
laboratory, or even break any beakers or flasks, but rather the new cosmos
squirts off into unseen dimensions while continuing to look like a tiny little
thing to the physicist.

 Linde sees this as a potential means of surviving the demise of our own
universe.

 "Maybe we can create the universe and transfer our knowledge to the inhabitants
of the universe that is created in our laboratory," Linde says.

 Or maybe, he suggests, someone already did that. The creator of our cosmos
might be a "physicist hacker" in some other universe, he says. Again, this is a
theory that has yet to yield a lot of support.

 The ultimate question is why the universe exists at all. Guth says the
equations for inflation allow the universe to expand forever, with new universes
constantly popping into existence, but the equations don't permit an eternal
past. There has to be a beginning, back there somewhere. Where did that first
pulse, that first little spark, come from?

  Guth says he's worked out scenarios in which the laws of physics allow
something to pop into existence from nothing. But he adds, "I was implicitly
assuming that the laws of physics already existed, even when there was no space,
no time, no matter. I think that's all I need to assume. Nevertheless I am
clearly making a big assumption there. That does raise the question of what
caused the laws of physics, where they came from."

  What's his answer?

  "I don't have the foggiest idea."

 So let's quickly summarize where we are: We're not sure if the universe will
keep expanding or start contracting. We don't know if The End, if there ever is
such a thing, is many billions of years away or many trillions of years away. We
don't know the nature of dark energy, this strange force that's shaping the
universe. We don't know if constants are constant. We don't know why there are
laws of physics. We don't know why there's something rather than nothing. 

 And thus we might guess that scientists will not soon put theologians out of
business.


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## Maryjane

*Re: Mars update*







This dazzling view looks beyond gigantic storms near Saturn's south pole to the small but clear disc of Tethys (1,060 kilometers, or 659 miles, across). Clouds and ribbons of gas swirl about in the planet's atmosphere in the foreground, while a tremendous chasm is visible on the icy moon.


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## Esioul

*Re: Mars update*

Is that water ice then Maryjane? any archaeology there for poor archaeoligists to dig up?


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## Maryjane

*Re: Mars update*

_If there are any artifacts on Mars Esioul it would be several million years old, but wouldn't it be something, Maybe the first inteligent life to visit this solar system and if so, just like whowever built the pyramids here, structures that huge from primitive days, it had to be done so it would last a long time as a message to future generations, just like the astronauts left a message and the flag on the moon and the voyager probe with the bronze plaque inside with the description of our world and and a human female and male forms depicted on it. A message for future travelers. Egiptology is an intersting research I find and the qabala there is a connection to all this and it is much more aincient then the Egiptians, some sites on the web I visited suggest that maybe the pyramids here and the pyramids and face on Mars are connected. Allot of fascinating ideas but most of them are just conjectural at this time, laking enough substantial material information for proof. If there are ruins on Mars I hope I live long enough to see it. My distant cousin The Dunes of Mars Warior Prince's home, The fortress in city square of Sidonia, and my two pet roveres  _


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## Maryjane

*Re: Mars update*







23 November 2004
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a suite of southern middle-latitude gullies cut into the wall of an impact crater located near 32.1°S, 12.9°W. These gullies might indicate that groundwater seeped to the surface and ran down these slopes. Others have suggested that similar gullies on Mars might form by other processes, including melting of ground ice or snow, but this image does not provide any clues that would suggest either of these alternatives are better than the groundwater interpretation. The 300 meter scale bar is about 984 feet long. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper left.


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## Maryjane

*Re: Titan Update*

_Here is another interesting link on possible artifacts on Mars_





 

*Continued* 

*Previous page...* 

*2-18-01* 






 Is the Eye Faceted? 






The "eye" on the Face. The apparent "faceted" "iris"-like structure rests in the middle of an almond-shaped depression, which in turn is surrounded by radiating "cells." 

A close look at the "eye" as shown in the new Mars Global Surveyor Face photograph shows that the "pupil" (more accurately, the "iris" or "cornea") is a "squashed pyramid." While this structure deviates from the perfect circle expected by some, it is nonetheless difficult to reconcile with geological processes such as volcanic venting and meteor impact. If the "eye" depression is the eroded vestige of a crater, as suggested by some, then it's extremely unlikely that an elevated, clearly defined feature would exist in the center. It's my personal opinion that familiar geological processes could not have conspired to produce the Face's "eye." 

A faceted "eye" may have once served as a light-reflecting device for its hypothetical builders. This seems to strengthen the contention that the Face was meant to be seen from above. Perhaps computer modeling can show us whether the uniquely "faceted" iris is in a position to reflect sunlight in a culturally significant manner and/or if this striking formation was designed to be seen from the direction of the "City." 






Kynthia's clay rendering. Note presence of "eye" and "teardrop" on the Face (viewed in profile from the west). 

"Shape-from-shading" analysis by Mark Carlotto shows that the Face retains a humanoid resemblance when seen from the ground. This finding was validated by an analogue sclupture by Kynthia based on the 1998 Face image. This discovery effectively buries NASA's "trick of light" explanation, which remains the agency's official position. 

It should be reinforced that the "eye" was a _predicted_ feature, not at all visible on the low-resolution Viking photos taken in the 1970s. The "eye," with its enigmatic "iris," constitutes a verified hypothesis favoring a non-natural origin of the Face mesa. Such evidence demands a serious re-appraisal of the Face by NASA. 








 The Cliff's "Great Wall" 






The new image of the Cliff. See blowup of "ramp", or "wall," below. 

In a previous article, I outlined the circumstances that point toward a possible artificial origin for the "Cliff." Robert Harrison, writing on his Cydonia Quest website, has provided a thorough and credible examination of the same feature, pictured below. 






Harrison notes that the Cliff's central "wall" appears to be segmented. Moreover, the unusual white lines fringing its base -- similar to those lining the "Coathanger" -- invite speculation. 






The Cliff seen in context. Note possible excavated impact ejacta to right of Cliff. 

Harrison argues that the "wall" shows signs of structural stress consistent with having existed concurrently with the impact left its "splash"-style crater to the immediate right. If so, this may detract from the "artificial horizon" hypothesis proposed by Richard Hoagland in "The Monuments of Mars." (The Cliff is parallel to the Face; proposed inhabitants of the City could have seen the Face superimposed before the Cliff in an unknown astronomical/cultural context.) 

With or without the attendant crater, the Cliff and its massive central wall present a challenge to geological models. It appears "modular," as if built out of architectural "vertebrae." And its presence atop the tapered Cliff mesa seems all-but-inexplicable; so far as I know, there is not a comparable feature elsewhere on Mars. 

As noted elsewhere, the "chewed"-looking terrain to the Cliff's immediate right suggests a possible excavation. Seen in high-resolution, this terrain appears criss-crossed with small curving fractures, many of which are filled with curious parallel lines. 



*2-23-01* 






 Exotic "Boulders": Macroscopic Life on Mars? 






A group of students was recently allowed to position the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) aboard the Mars Gloval Surveyor. The students' widely publicized image of the Martian surface shows a scattering of dark material on a windswept Martian desert. While NASA identifies these formations as "boulders," it's possible they are dark photosynthetic organisms, or "colonies" of darkly pigmented microbial life. 

Martian anomalies continue to mount at an incredible rate. Even conservative author/scientist Arthur C. Clarke has expressed bewilderment with some of the new features under investigation, particularly the enormous "worm" seen below. A concentrated effort to reimage anomalies at the best possible illumination and resolution way well be the trigger for a serious proposal for finally sending humans to the Red Planet. 

Renewed interest in the "worm" has focused on the reflective, spherical (?) object seen embedded within the feature's transparent "carapace." While some interpret the worm as a "pipe" of some sort (either for transportation or for channeling water in the distant past), it's perhaps more likely the "worm" is the frozen carcass of an organism not unlike the "sandworms" of Frank Herbert's novel "Dune." 



*2-26-01* 






 Water Stains and Martian Life? 

Mars anomalist Efrain Palermo has catalogued dozens of enigmatic "leaks" or "stains" on the surface of Mars that can be reasonably attributed to the presence of flowing water. NASA has endorsed similar stains in the Valles Marineris region as evidence of liquid water but maintains, less-than-convincingly, that stains elsewhere on Mars are dust flows. 






Typical Martian "stain." Liquid or dust? 

Palermo accurately notes that Martian winds quickly scatter particles on the planet's surface, and that it's unlikely that the alleged "dust flows" could persist for any length of time before becoming scattered and blurred. In the graphic below, Palermo shows a known dust streak next to one of the many anomalous "stains." The latter feature shows no signs of streaking. The bottom-most picture is a computer simulation of what the "stain" in question would look like if it is indeed composed of nothing more than dark dust. 








Last but not least, the stains' dark color could be due to photosynthetic pigments. "Where there is water, there is life" is something of a biological axiom here on Earth. If Palermo's stains indeed show water, then it's not unreasonable to expect them to be seething with primitive life. NASA's pending announcement of confirming evidence of past life on Mars also raises the possibility that Palermo's stains are partly composed of organic magnetite. 

Richard Hoagland's research parallels discoveries made by Palermo and others. The Enterprise Mission equates some of the more complex structures affiliated with possible Martian life with "organic technology." 



*3-2-01* 






 Hoagland's "Tunnel": Geology, Biology, or Technology? 






The "worm" or "tunnel." Interestingly enough, similar "ribbed" structures can be found in Cydonia. Is this evidence of technology, biology or geology? 

The anomalous Martian "tunnel" (or "worm") discovered by Richard Hoagland and documented on his Enterprise Mission website has enjoyed increased attention after Arthur C. Clarke cited it as evidence of possible life. Life or not, the "worm" remains unexplained, and poses questions for researchers who entertain the prospect of a prior technological civilization on the Red Planet. 

Whatever the "tunnel" is, it's enormous: a seemingly translucent cylindrical formation resting in a gouge in the Martian surface, giving the impression of a subterranean "pipe." And it might be just that. In Hoagland's scenario, the worm, and other features of the same basic description, comprise the remains of an intricate water-channeling system comparable to the infamous "canals" described by astronomer Percival Lowell in the 19th century. 

If complexes such as the one in Cydonia are indeed fragments of a long-vanished Martian civilization, then the "tubes" could have served as an aquatic infrastructure, transferring water from permafrost and lake regions to Martian "cities." This scenario is particularly Bradburian in its portrayal of Mars as a dying world, inhabited by beings dependent on an insulated water supply in the face of postulated temperature changes, atmospheric thinning and meteor bombardment. 

Hoagland also speculates that the alleged "tunnel system" could have been used to transport goods. In other words, the "worm" might be a derelict Martian Autobahn. 

Ruling out a geological interpretation for the sake of argument, the "worm" may be a literal "worm" of unlikely dimensions. The image captured by the Mars Global Surveyor may show a giant fossil of some sort, although the apparent reflective sphere _inside_ of the structure implies an even more exotic explanation. Could the "worm" be an example of _existing_ Martian life? The likelihood is extremely low, but is within our ability to test: future images of the same region will show us if the "sandworm" has changed position or moved in a manner consistent with living organisms. For example, if the unknown object in the "worm's" "throat" is a bolus of some mind, we might reasonably expect to see it in a different position (if it is indeed being "digested" or transported from one end of the tube to another). 

John Velez, posting on "UFO UpDates," astutely notes that the arched "rings" that constitute the "worm's" segments seem to be the widest around the mystery object, as if the rings are flexible and capable of peristalsis. 






Speculative rendering of an ancient, aquatic Mars. 

This trait may also be interpreted in technological terms. For example, Hoagland and Mike Bara propose that certain features on Mars indicate "organic technology." If the "worm" is an automaton of some kind, one cannot help but wonder if it was used for something other than a transportation conduit or pipeline. Maybe, in an attempt to "terrraform" Mars after the disaster that killed the planet's oceans and atmosphere, the always-hypothetical Martians made use of giant organic or cybernetically contrived soil-processing machines. This is obvious speculation, but not nearly as bizarre as it seems; the concept of self-replicating machines (i.e., mobile "greenhouse gas factories") have been a central interest among groups wanting to "terraform" Mars into a habitable world for eventual human colonization. 

The hypothesis that the "worm" is a geological oddity remains in contention, although what processes could have produced such an apparent glassine, arched structure remain undetermined. If geological, I suspect the "worm's" origins are volcanic (extreme heating and flow might somehow conspire to create the transparent walls through vitrification). But given the evidence and noted lack of insight on behalf of planetary geologists, an exotic explanation seems more most tempting. The "tunnel's" implications, seen in light of the Artificiality Hypothesis, are nothing less than remarkable. 








 Hoagland and Palermo Tackle the Riddle of the "Stains" 

Acting on a suggestion by Richard Hoagland, anomalist Efrain Palermo (see above) has undertaken a global mapping of the probable liquid "stains" catalogued on his website. If correlations to the Martian equator (and/or areas of relatively high atmospheric pressure) can be demonstrated, a hydrologic explanation for the "weeping" sands of Mars will gain additional merit. 



*3-6-01* 






 Martian "Tunnels": Weird Geology After All? 

An image has surfaced showing additional Martian "tubes." While these are exceedingly strange in terms of familiar geological processes, they appear more natural than the "tunnel" described above. Are we looking at variations of the same geological anomaly or more evidence of a demolished Martian infrastructure? 



 Back


----------



## Maryjane

*Re: Mars update*

_*A lake on Mars?*_



*MSIP: Multinational Research in the Southern Hemisphere (Released 22 April 2004)*



 Image Context:




[size=-2]Context image credit: NASA/Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) Team[/size]
[ Find on map: Javascript version ]
[ Find on map: CGI version ]​ParameterValue ParameterValueLatitude-67.1 InstrumentVISLongitude55.3E (304.7W) Resolution (m)19Image Size (pixels)3204x1007 Image Size (km)60.9x19.1
This image is part of the following themes: 

Craters


Our group is from Saratoga Springs, NY and is called the Saratoga Springs NASA Club. It contains approximately 30 students between 9th and 12th grade who have been participating since September of 2001. We also worked with a small group of students from Chekhov, Russia in order to do a joint MSIP project. Chekhov is the sister city of Saratoga Springs. Their group contains kids of the same age group as our NASA Club. Our group, along with a few students from the Chekhov branch, visited Arizona State University in November of 2003. 

The image we targeted is in the Southern Hemisphere and is at -67 degrees N. 

We chose this area because of the presence of craters in the vicinity, which we hope will help with our thesis about the presence of craters that contain lobates as use for evidence that there might once have been water in this area. This image is causing us considerable difficulty due to the presence of a structure that resembles a lake located in the center of the crater. NASA and Arizona State University’s Mars Education Program is offering students nationwide the opportunity to be involved in authentic Mars research by participating in the Mars Student Imaging Project (MSIP). Teams of students in grades 5 through college sophomore level have the opportunity to work with scientists, mission planners and educators on the THEMIS team at ASU’s Mars Space Flight Facility, to image a site on Mars using the THEMIS visible wavelength camera. For more information go to the MSIP website: http://msip.asu.edu. 

[Questions? Email images@themis.asu.edu]​[size=-1]_[Source: ASU THEMIS Science Team]_[/size]​


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## Maryjane

[font=Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif]*Dark Streaks on Mars Suggest Running Water Still Present*
[font=Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif]*By Robert Roy Britt*
Senior Science Writer
[/font][/font][font=arial,helvetica]posted: 07:00 am ET
11 December 2002
[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]Dark surface streaks along canyon and crater walls on Mars could be signs of running water presently scouring the surface, according to a new study. 

The streaks occur in areas thought by some scientists to involve long-running thermal activity under the surface. The salty water seeps to the from below, now and then, because of interactions with hidden, hot, molten rock, the thinking goes. 

The process is thought to operate somewhat like an ephemeral hot spring on Earth. 

The research was presented this week at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. It does not by any means represent the final word on the possibility for water on Mars. More evidence would be needed to confirm whether some of the streaks were in fact created by water. 

Mars is known to contain significant quantities of water ice. But there have been no firm detections of liquid water, a key requirement for life, as we know it. 














   Images
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	











Dark streaks are seen at a range of gradients within a depression, something not expected for dry erosion processes like wind or dust avalanches.















This image shows several dark slope streaks that continue on to the valley floor.














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Mars Loaded with Ice but Still No Sign of Water





















Water Ice Found Near South Pole of Mars





















Scalding Rains, Flash Floods and Worse Plagued Ancient Mars





















The 10 Best Mars Images Ever
















Meanwhile, other scientists at the meeting have been portraying the Red Planet as cold and dry. Another recent study suggested Mars has quite possibly had a lifeless history, despite the hope of many scientists that liquid water and signs of life will eventually be found. 

The study of Mars is never boring. 

*New life for old idea* The new study is not the first to hold the dark streaks up as signatures of running water. The Viking missions of the 1970s first spotted them, and scientists then suggested they might have been caused by water. Other researchers said wind, dust or landslides might be responsible, and the idea that water was at work lost favor over the years. 

"There is no identifiable characteristic of a dark slope streak that can definitively say whether it was formed by water-related processes or not,"said Justin C. Ferris, National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow at the U.S. Geological Survey in Denver, Colo. "But there are certainly some features which strongly suggest the role of water." 

Ferris and his colleagues -- James Dohm, Victor Baker, and Tom Maddock, all of the University of Arizona -- acknowledge that wind and other erosion are responsible for some of the streaks. 

Their study shows that streaks have been observed to fade in mere decades. Others are new, having appeared after the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft began detailed mapping of the planet in April of 1999. 

"These are definitely minor seepage," Ferris told _SPACE.com_. "But they're occurring as we speak, which is what makes them exciting." 

Over the past two years, photos of layered sediments and other erosional features have been attributed to possible water flows in the relatively recent geologic past of Mars by other scientists. But this week's announcement is among the few suggestions for evidence of surface water that might exist now. 

*The evidence* A handful of characteristics regarding the streaks suggest water is involved. 

The streaks often originate at or near seams between two types of rock, the new analysis shows. They tend to occur on valley walls and continue down to the valley floor. Perhaps most important, the features do not crop up in all locations with similar slope and material, which would be expected if only wind or landslides were responsible. 

"Interestingly, most regions that contain dark slope streaks show evidence of ground ice or water and magma interactions," said Dohm, a geologist who has also mapped scenarios for colossal water flows on ancient Mars. 

While there is no doubt that volcanic activity was once common on Mars, Dohm's suggestion that hot magma might lurk just below the surface today has not been proven. 

Salty water freezes at lower temperatures and might remain in the liquid phase at the surface of the chilly planet, the researchers say. 

"Thus, the briny water could flow slowly down slope, leaving behind a ghostly image that we call a dark slope streak," Ferris said. "This hypothesis implies that there is current hydrological activity on the surface of Mars." 

The darkness might be caused by water washing away lighter-colored surface material, or it could be a result of saturated soil. 

The scientists suggest that the dark streaks would make good places for further study, including possible sample-return missions. They also are aware that the search for possible water on Mars is ultimately also a search for possible life. 

"And where you have a long-lived heat source and ample water, there is an exciting potential for subsurface life," Dohm said. 

*The 10 Best Mars Images Ever* 



[/font]_*Some more water on Mars*_


----------



## Maryjane

*Some more on seeps*

*Dark streaks on crater and valley walls may indicate that brackish water currently flows across the surface of Mars.* 





 The images show streaks on the surface of Mars

New images and analysis suggest the slopes around the Red Planet's largest extinct volcano, Olympus Mons, contain dark stains caused by brine flowing down hill. 

The discovery indicates that the substantial underground ice deposits on Mars can sometimes melt and flow across the surface. 

It is bound to increase speculation that life may exist near to the surface of the planet. 

*Dark streaks* 

The study has been done by Tahirih Motazedian, of the University of Oregon, US. It supports work done by others. 

She told BBC News Online that she had examined images of Mars taken at different times and had seen new streaks form within time intervals of months. 






 Briny water flows downhill

She speculates that geothermal activity driven by volcanic heat may be causing the melting of subsurface ice. 

The water dissolves surrounding minerals to form a super-saline brine which, because it contains salts, can remain liquid at lower temperatures and pressures than pure water can. 

When the brine trickles on to the surface, it flows downhill staining the surface. 

"The streaks originate from distinct geologic horizons below the Martian surface, where the water-ice table has been intersected by crater and valley walls," she said. 

*'Dynamic fluid flow'* 

Significantly, the dark streaks are never overlain or cut by other features like craters or sand dunes, just as if they were made by water marking the surface. 

"They passively overlay existing features except where they are forced to flow around obstacles," she said. 

The dark streaks always begin upslope as a point and widen downslope, just like flowing water. 






 Stains said to be caused by the water

The streaks have the same dispersive patterns that liquid water has when it flows downhill, "highly indicative of dynamic fluid flow", says Tahirih Motazedian. 

Images taken of the Mangala Valles region show that the dark streaks are being formed at the present time. 

Two images taken a few months apart show new streaks have appeared. 

"This demonstrates the existence of a currently active, short-term process of surface change on Mars," the researcher said.


----------



## Maryjane

Methane in Martian Air Suggests Life Beneath the Surface

November 23, 2004
 By KENNETH CHANG 





A third team of scientists has now reported a seemingly
simple discovery on Mars: its atmosphere contains methane. 

But that finding has potentially profound implications,
including the possibility of present-day microbes living on
Mars. 

Speaking this month at the American Astronomical Society's
Division for Planetary Sciences meeting in Louisville, Ky.,
Dr. Michael Mumma, a senior scientist at NASA's Goddard
Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., reported three years
of observations had provided strong evidence for methane. 

"We are 99 percent confident," Dr. Mumma said. "It
surprised all of us, actually. We really are still
scrambling to understand what it means." 

Methane, the simplest of hydrocarbon molecules with one
carbon and four hydrogen atoms, is fragile in air and
easily broken apart when hit by ultraviolet light.
Calculations indicate that any methane in the Martian air
must have been put there within the past 300 years. 

That then raises the question: What is putting methane into
the Martian air? 

There seem to be only two plausible explanations. One is
geothermal chemical reactions involving water and heat like
those that occur on Earth in the hot springs of Yellowstone
or at hydrothermal vents on the bottoms of oceans. 

That would intrigue planetary geologists. Although frozen
water is known to exist, there are no signs that any
volcanism has occurred there for millions of years. Also,
an instrument aboard NASA's Mars Odyssey looked for warm
spots on Mars' surface and did not find any. 

The other, more intriguing, is life. On Earth, a class of
bacteria known as methanogens breathes out methane as a
waste product. The discovery, if confirmed, suggests that
perhaps Martian life arose on a presumably more hospitable
Mars billions of years ago and survives to this day
underground, beneath the cold, dry landscape. 

Dr. Vladimir Krasnopolsky of Catholic University in
Washington, the leader of one of the teams, said he
believed bacteria to be the "most plausible source." 

Others are more cautious. "Three difficult detections, or
marginal detections, don't equate to one really strong
one," said Dr. Philip R. Christensen, a professor of
geological sciences at Arizona State University. 

Dr. Krasnopolsky's findings, relying on observations from
the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope in Hawaii, were first
reported at a conference in Europe this year and will be
published in the journal Icarus. 

In January, scientists working on the European Space
Agency's Mars Express mission also reported the detection
of the methane. A few months later, that group, led by Dr.
Vittorio Formisano of the Institute of Physics and
Interplanetary Science in Rome reported that the methane
appeared to be more plentiful in regions where frozen water
is known to exist underground. 

All three teams of astronomers looked for methane molecules
in the Martian air by examining the rainbow of light
reflected by the planet. Different molecules absorb
different, very specific colors, producing a bar-code-like
series of black lines blotting out part of the rainbow
spectrum. The widths of the lines tell the quantity. Dr.
Krasnopolsky and Dr. Formisano based their claims on a
single dark line. 

The journal Science published the Mars Express results this
month. Dr. Christensen of Arizona State said he was
unconvinced by it. "I must confess I'm surprised it was
published," he said. "I think it's just instrument noise.
This detection is right at the noise level of the
instrument." 

Dr. Mumma said his ground-based observations from Hawaii
and Chile spotted two separate dark lines corresponding to
methane and performed other checks. "Mike's a really
careful guy," said Dr. Steven W. Squyres, principal
investigator for the rovers now on Mars, who attended Dr.
Mumma's talk. "It was to me, by a significant margin, the
most compelling argument that I've seen." 

There is a new wrinkle in Dr. Mumma's findings: some
regions of Mars near the equator possess surprisingly high
levels of methane, up to 250 parts per billion, while areas
near the poles had 20 to 60 parts per billion. Earth air,
by comparison, contains about 1,700 parts per billion of
methane. Dr. Mumma's readings are considerably higher than
those reported by the other two groups. 

Scientists have generally thought that methane, if present,
would quickly distribute evenly through the atmosphere, so
the clumps of high concentration suggest that not only are
there sources emitting methane, but perhaps some process is
also destroying methane over the poles. 

The methane findings on current-day Mars come as planetary
scientists are again rethinking their ideas about long-ago
Mars. Geological carvings on the surface, from ones that
look like meandering river channels to gigantic canyons,
gave rise to the notion that Mars had been a tropical
paradise, perhaps warmed by a thick heat-trapping blanket
of carbon dioxide in its atmosphere. 

But climatologists found that it was hard for their
computer models to provide that much warming, and
scientists shifted to a picture of Mars as wet, but cold.
Many of the features could have been cut by glaciers or
transitory hellish deluges when ice was melted by meteor
strikes. 

Mars also possesses few carbonates, the minerals in
limestone that would be expected to form in the presence of
water, but does have much olivine, a mineral that falls
apart when exposed to moisture. 

This year, however, the rover Opportunity, which landed at
a site called Meridiani Planum, found minerals and salts
that indicate that that part of Mars at least had once been
soaked in water, although when and for how long remain
uncertain. Dr. Squyres also noted that while the minerals
indicate liquid water, "We see nothing that looks like wave
ripples" in the layers of sediments preserved in the rocks.


The other rover, Spirit, on the other side of Mars,
initially found only volcanic rocks that appear almost
unchanged for billions of years. It has since rolled to
nearby hills, which appear to be slightly older, where the
rocks seem to have been significantly changed by water. 

The rover findings and others presented last month in
Jackson Hole, Wyo., at a conference about early Mars have
led some to think again of the planet long ago as warm and
wet. 

Even Dr. James F. Kasting, a climatologist at Penn State
whose models helped convince people that Mars had not been
warm, has changed his mind. Dr. Kasting is now
investigating methane, a more potent greenhouse gas than
carbon dioxide, as a cause of warming. His initial
simulations show methane cooling the planet but he thinks
the error is in his calculations, not his hypothesis. 

"I think it's our problem, not Mars' problem," he said. "I
think the evidence keeps mounting that it was warm. I think
it has to be stably warm." 

The opinion is not unanimous, but the idea of early oceans
is gaining favor. Some scientists, like Dr. Stephen M.
Clifford of the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston,
said that four billion years ago the decay of radioactive
elements in the core of Mars would have produced enough
heat to melt ice from below, producing an ice-covered
ocean. Acidic waters could explain the lack of carbonates. 

Dr. Daniel J. McCleese, chief scientist for Mars
exploration at the NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said
that during discussions someone said, "So we all believe
there were oceans on early Mars?" 

Dr. McCleese said: "Nobody spoke against that. Then someone
said, 'What about a warm climate?' And then a tumultuous
exchange began." 

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/23/science/space/23mars.html?ex=1103346095&ei=1&en=b68ca24145bbb2ee


----------



## Leto

An interesting article on Mars and then origin of terran life here : http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/mars_life_041213.html


> Life-Swapping Scenarios for Earth and Mars
> By Leonard David
> Senior Space Writer
> posted: 13 December, 2004
> 7:00 a.m. ET
> 
> 
> 
> Evidence is mounting that the time-weathered red planet was once a warm and water-rich world. And a Mars awash with water gives rise to that globe possibly being fit for habitation in its past – and perhaps a distant dwelling for life today.
> 
> 
> As sensor-laden orbiters circle the planet, NASA’s twin Mars rovers -- Spirit and Opportunity -- have been tooling about and carrying out exhaustive ground studies for nearly a year.
> 
> 
> The Opportunity robot at Meridiani Planum, for instance, has found telltale signs that water came and went repeatedly within that stretch of Martian real estate. While that intermittent water at Meridiani Planum is thought to be highly acidic and salty, its ability to sustain life for some period of time cannot be ruled out.
> 
> 
> What scientists now see is a Mars different in its first billion years of geologic history than once thought – and conceivably an extraterrestrial address for home-grown life.
> 
> 
> Rainfall: From years to decades
> 
> 
> Mars is one complex and perplexing world.
> 
> 
> That was strikingly evident at the Second Conference on Early Mars: Geologic, Hydrologic, and Climate Evolution and the Implications for Life, held Oct. 11-15 in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Nearly 140 terrestrial and planetary scientists took part in that seminal meeting hosted by the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI), NASA, and NASA’s Mars Program Office.
> 
> 
> "One of the most significant new findings reported at the meeting was that it appears Mars underwent many of its most important changes much earlier in its history than previously thought," said Steve Clifford, an LPI planetary scientist. That includes core formation, the development of the crustal dichotomy, a rapid decline in geothermal heat flow, and the loss of a planetary magnetic field.
> 
> 
> "Surprisingly, all of these events appear to have occurred within the planet’s first 50 million to 100 million years of existence," Clifford explained. A related discovery is the potential role played by large impacts during this same period, he said, a topographic record of which is preserved in the ancient cratered highlands and has now also been detected beneath the planet’s northern plains.
> 
> 
> Clifford said simulations indicate that the very largest of these impacts may have blown away a significant fraction of the early Martian atmosphere. Impacts that produced craters greater than some 60 miles (100 kilometers) in diameter might have affected the climate on a regional and global scale, creating transient environmental conditions capable of sustaining continuous rainfall lasting from years to decades, he said.
> 
> 
> Water-rich world
> 
> 
> "There now appears to be overwhelming evidence that early Mars was water-rich – and may have possessed standing bodies of water and ice that ranged from large seas to a primordial ocean, perhaps covering a third of the planet," Clifford said.
> 
> 
> Supporting evidence ranges from orbital observations of extensive layered terrains within, and possible paleoshorelines surrounding, the northern plains to on-the-spot investigations of the mineralogy and sedimentary record recently discovered by the Opportunity rover in Meridiani Planum.
> 
> 
> "The implications of these findings are just beginning to be absorbed by the Mars community, yet they have already substantially revised our understanding of the planet’s early evolution. They are sure to be a continued focus of attention as the intensity and scope of Mars exploration increases over the next decade," Clifford observed.
> 
> 
> Now mix in recent findings about the origin and range of life here on our own planet.
> 
> 
> "Life is incredible and the envelope for what we know about where life can live -- data from planet Earth -- is ever expanding and is far beyond what we might have hypothesized," suggested Lynn Rothschild, a scientist in the Ecosystem Science and Technology Branch of NASA’s Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California.
> 
> 
> "There is a difference in perspective between planetary folks and biologists regarding where life might thrive.*Organisms don't look for a global average.*As a microbe, just give me 100 microliters of liquid water and I am happy. In any case, I certainly don't need an ocean!*So think microenvironment," Rothschild advised.
> 
> 
> 
> Water and energy for microorganisms
> 
> 
> Given the wealth of Mars Exploration Rover (MER) data, the likelihood that life could have existed on Mars -- or still does -- is viewed as more probable according to Carrine Blank, Assistant Professor of Molecular Geobiology in the Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences at Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri.
> 
> 
> The MER results indicate that there were both large bodies of liquid water on Mars and there were fluids carrying redox (oxidizing and reducing) gradients through the near surface which resulted in precipitation of the blueberries, Blank told SPACE.com. "Life not only requires liquid water, but it also needs a source of metabolic energy," she added, "and redox gradients are great sources of energy for microorganisms.*
> 
> 
> Blank said in her mind the really big question is just how long was this liquid water and energy present on the surface of Mars. Be it brief or extended, so goes drawing the life line in the sands of Mars.
> 
> 
> "If it was for just a brief time in the geologic history of Mars, then perhaps the potential for life is low," Blank said.*"If, on the other hand, it was for an extended period of time, then the potential for life at the surface becomes much higher."
> 
> 
> What is needed now, Blank noted, is more information about how widespread sedimentary deposits are on Mars, and then identify age constraints on the presence of liquid water at the surface.
> 
> 
> Planet swapping microbes
> 
> 
> The idea that the seeds of life hobnob between far-flung celestial localities is known as panspermia.
> 
> 
> Could Mars be a domain for both microbes flung off Earth due to asteroid and comet impacts, as well as a planet where a "second genesis" might have also occurred? Furthermore, if this was the case, could external life and made-on-Mars biology co-exist?
> 
> 
> "Absolutely," advised Blank, adding yet another scenario: That life originated on Mars and was transferred to the Earth, and then went extinct on Mars.
> 
> 
> "At present, there is no geologic evidence that the origin of life occurred on the Earth. So one hypothesis is that the origin could have occurred elsewhere, like Mars, and then transferred to the Earth," Blank suggested. Alternatively, life could have originated on the Earth -- but left no evidence since we don't have any rocks for the first billion years of Earth history -- and then transferred to Mars, she said.
> 
> 
> "If life was transferred between the planets, then Martian life, past and present, should have similar characteristics to early Earth life," Blank said. "On the other hand, if there was a second genesis, then life on Mars should be very different than life on Earth, and may in fact be quite difficult to detect or even recognize as life…particularly if it has gone extinct!"*
> 
> 
> Deepest branches on the tree of life
> 
> 
> Meanwhile back on Earth, Blank said that more research is needed to understand whether interplanetary transfer of life could have been possible.*In particular, additional work on hyperthermophiles -- microbes that live at very high temperatures and that form the deepest branches on the tree of life -- is required, as they were the early inhabitants of the Earth and therefore were the ones most likely to have been transferred around the solar system by impacts, she said.
> 
> 
> "We know very little about the origin of life on the Earth…how it happened, what kind of environment it might have happened in, and how long it look to go from the origin to the last common ancestor of life as we know it - a very complex organism very much like modern life," Blank said.*
> 
> 
> Casting her eye back on Mars, Blank also said an unknown is whether conditions on early Mars were similar to what they were like on the early Earth when the origin of life likely happened.*
> 
> 
> "If they were similar, then perhaps a ‘second genesis’ could have been possible on Mars.* Even if conditions were different on Mars, there could still have been a second genesis only with a very different result than what happened on the Earth," Blank stated. "If these different life forms were spread throughout the solar system, then they might have co-existed if they could learn to depend upon each other.*If, on the other hand, they were in direct competition for resources, then you might expect that one would ‘win’ and survive, and the other go extinct," she advised.
> 
> 
> War of the worlds?
> 
> 
> Jack Farmer, an astrobiologist at Arizona State University in Tempe, also contends that the chance for life having existed on Mars is definitely in the cards. He is a Mars Exploration Rover science team member.
> 
> 
> "We now have what I consider to be definitive evidence for standing bodies of water on Mars and this has opened up a serious and focused discussion of habitable environments on Mars early in the planet's history. This discovery marks a first step in implementing a strategy for Mars exopaleontology," Farmer told SPACE.com.
> 
> Farmer said the idea that Mars could have played host to Earth-launched microbes, as well as being a planet where a second genesis might have also taken place "are both contenders for an origin of Martian life and deserve serious consideration."
> 
> 
> "I also think the idea of a ‘War of the Worlds’ on Mars between life forms that originated there and those that arrived from Earth is a serious possibility," Farmer said. And that prospect, he continued, raises some key questions: Who would win? Is there the possibility for a competitive co-existence between life forms that originated on a different basis?
> 
> 
> "The good news is [that] these alternative hypotheses appear to be testable in the context of future missions. But this discussion also points, again, to the importance of planetary protection and the potential for back-contamination arising from a Martian sample return," Farmer concluded.
> 
> 
> This article is part of SPACE.com's weekly Mystery Monday series.


----------



## Maryjane

_Interesting article Leto_
_My own theory is that in the begining there was the buiding blocks and element to form everything there is within the premordial soup of the big bang, it it were not so many of the things we see in existance today simply would not exist and this is not precluding the building blocks for life. As these hot gases expanded outwards and solidified into stars, planets, comets, meteors and asteroids containing the building blocks for life, as has been already theorised by researchers thse building blocks were transported throughout the univers in the form of the afor mentioned and eventually landing on planets that had favorable environments for these building blocks for life formes to form and thrive on these worlds. These planets were at one time to hot to support life forms and there fore this would explain why signs of primitive life forms did not show up until much later after the planets cooling._


_As for water on Mars I have thought about the meterite bombardment of the planet may have had allot to do with vaporising much of the atmosphere and water on the surface also possibly throwing the planet into a more distant orbit around the sun, if this is so it would explain the more eliptical orbit around the sun as compared to the other inner most planets. I believe that there could still be an abundance of water just a few mer feet beneath the ground. Near the surface it would be in the form of permafrost. After all with all the signs of an abundance of water that once flowed on the surface there would have had to be a water table beneath the surface, quite possibly great resevoirs where far enough down and warmed by the planets core this water that could still be in the form of liquid and possibly still harbore some primitive life forms like our own planet does to this day. I haven't checked any of my Nasa sites lately to see what is new._


----------



## Maryjane

_Earth like clouds and traces of water every where in the rocks on Mars_

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/12/14/mars.rock/index.html


----------



## Maryjane

*New Mars*






http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/mars_renderings_011204-1.html


----------



## Leto

Active volcanoes on Mars ? :
http://permanent.nouvelobs.com/culture/20041223.OBS4555.html (in french, babel-fished below)
Active volcanoes
On the " red planet "? 

NOUVELOBS.COM ¦ 23.12.04 ¦ 10:17

The existence of a volcanic activity and recent phenomena of glaciation is attested by the images of the surface of Mars collected by the European probe Express Mars, according to the Natural review.


The existence of a volcanic activity and recent phenomena of glaciation is attested by the images of the surface of Mars collected by the European probe Express Mars, according to the Natural review of Thursday, December 23rd.
Calderas (depressions) found at the top of four important Martian volcanoes knew episodes repeated by activity during the " last 20 percent of the Martian history(story) ", so recent as there is 2 million years, what suggests that these volcanoes are " potentially still active at the moment ", according to the works published by the British review.
The instrument embarked on Express Mars on orbit for almost one year allows to obtain images with high resolution of the surface (10 metres by pixel), coupled with a vast mown(pinched), a band(strip) from 60 to 100 km by thousands of kilometres. Where from the possibility of replacing details in a context much vaster than previously, the objective being to establish the level of geologic activity and recent géothermale.

Between 3 and 100 million years

The researchers in charge of the movie camera HRSC (High Resolution Stereo Camera), supervised by Gerhard Neukum (University free of Berlin) throw a new light on the duration of the periods of volcanic activity on the heights of Tharsis and Elysium, the main volcanic homes(foyers) on Mars during the main part of the history(story) of the " red planet ".
The age of lavas on the sides of Oympus Mons, the biggest volcano of the solar system, which peaks in 21.300 metres, and Hecates Tholus, on the convexity of Elysium, is situated between 3 and 100 million years, what represents 80 % of the history(story) of Mars. This extremely long history(story) is to be moved closer to the typical life expectancy(cycle) of the big ground volcanoes, which are born, grow and go out within a million years.
Deposits(Warehouses) of ice(mirror,ice cream) on the base of Olympus Mons indicate the existence of phenomena repeated by glaciation so recent as 4 million years. Even today, of the ice(mirror,ice cream) of water, isolated by a coat(layer) of dust, could be present at high heights of Olympus Mons, suggest the researchers.


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## Leto

More on possible life : 
Ice Packs and Methane on Mars Suggest Present Life Possible, European Team Says 
By Robert Roy Britt
Senior Science Writer
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/050222_mars_ice.html




A European space probe has found evidence for large blocks of water ice just beneath the Martian surface in relatively warm conditions near the equator.


The frozen sea of sorts, if follow-up studies confirm it, would be the first large quantity of water ice on Mars confirmed to exist near the equator, researchers say. And it would be a good place to search for present life.


"This is a historic moment for Mars exploration when a previously neglected region reveals its secrets," Jan-Peter Muller of the University College London said in a statement today. "Speculations that this area might have water close to the surface have been shown to be correct."


The findings could be important for biology, Muller and his colleagues say.


"Higher levels of methane over the same area mean that primitive micro-organisms might survive on Mars today," the statement reads.


Small quantities of methane were previously detected in the Martian atmosphere by the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter. Methane could be a byproduct of biological activity, or it could be the result of nonbiological processes, other scientists say. And the methane signature at Mars is tentative for now, researchers have said.


"The methane signature is controversial," Brown University geologist John Mustard told SPACE.com last week.


The new evidence


Scientists know that Mars was once wetter than it is today. Data from NASA's Mars Rovers reveal significant amounts of liquid water must have existed billions of years ago. Since then, the planet has dried up. Scientists have been eager to determine how much water might have remained beneath the surface, either as ice or in occasional pockets of liquid that might support life.


The newfound pack ice, just five degrees from the equator, might have collected millions of years ago when volcanic tempests and water floods brought it down from nearby areas in the Elysium region of the planet, researchers say. Scars to the landscape serve as evidence of those past floods.


Until now, however, scientists had assumed any lakes or seas that resulted from the flooding had either evaporated away or, if frozen into icebergs, had "sublimated" directly into the atmosphere.


"We have found evidence consistent with a presently existing frozen body of water, with surface pack-ice," the scientists write in a paper that is scheduled to be published in March in the journal Nature.


The journal's contents are normally not released prior to publication. The research was first reported on by New Scientist magazine, which says the paper was not under embargo when first viewed by the magazine. SPACE.com has reviewed the paper.


The research was discussed yesterday at a scientific meeting in Europe.


“The fact that there have been warm and wet places beneath the surface of Mars since before life began on Earth, and that some are probably still there, means that there is a possibility that primitive micro-organisms survive on Mars today," study co-leader John Murray at the Open University in the UK said in today's statement. "This mission has changed many of my long-held opinions about Mars – we now have to go there and check it out."


Other researchers have speculated that if life ever formed on Mars, it could have gone underground and survived to the present day. (Lack of surface water now, plus the harsh radiation at Mars, suggest it's very unlikely there is any modern-day surface life.)


Many other scientists have said firm proof of life on Mars, if it exists, would require a new mission. The rovers on Mars and spacecraft orbiting there are not equipped to find life directly.


Formed when human ancestors were around


The ice exists in a block that resemble polar ice on Earth, according to the research team. It measures about 497 by 559 miles (800 by 900 kilometers) and averages up to 150 feet (45 meters) deep.


The underground iceberg is just 2 million to 5 million years old -- recent in geologic terms. It formed when early hominids were roaming Earth.


The feature suggests that "vast flooding events, which are known to have occurred from beneath Mars’ surface throughout its geological history, still happen," the Muller, Murray and their colleagues write. "The presence of liquid water for thousands of millions of years, even beneath the surface, is a possible habitat in which primitive life may have developed, and might still be surviving now. Clearly this must now be considered as a prime site for future missions looking for life."


The researchers propose that the ice has been protected from sublimation by an overlying layer of volcanic ash.


"I think it's fairly plausible," Michael Carr, an expert on Martian water at the U.S. Geological Survey, told New Scientist. "We know where the water came from," said Carr, who was not involved in the work. "You can trace the valleys carved by water down to this area."


Confirmation could come soon


Evidence from the High Resolution Stereo Camera on the European Space Agency's Mars Express craft show characteristics in craters that suggest the water ice remains.


The pack-ice floes appear to have drifted into obstacles and become grounded on islands when the water level dropped, the scientists say.


But the case is not closed.


"The question remains as to whether the frozen body of water is still there, or whether the visible floes are preserved in a sublimation residue draped over the substrate," the scientists write in their journal article. A firm answer could come soon.


The Mars Express probe will finally deploy its delayed MARSIS experiment in May. The ground-penetrating radar instrument is designed to look for ice or water beneath the surface.


"If water ice is confirmed, this site represents a prime target for exobiology landers from the European Space Agency planned for the end of this decade," today's statement said.


If the ice exists, it would add to other frozen water stores on Mars.


Both polar regions of the red planet are capped by large areas of water ice. In the southern hemisphere, frozen carbon dioxide, or dry ice, covers the water ice. NASA's Mars Odyssey probe found strong evidence for ice embedded in the soil away from polar regions, but scientists are awaiting confirmation of the extent of that ice.


Researchers stress that while liquid water is a key ingredient for life as we know it, the presence of water does not mean life ever got started.


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## Circus Cranium

ACK! ACK ACK ACK! ACK!


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## Space Monkey

LMAO oh my god, you got proof right there!
The great debate has been answered.


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