Interesting Mars Pics.

[Madaya]

On a lighter note, I have been following the explorations of Mars Science Laboratory, Curiosity, as it rolls accross Mars...
Among the many thousands of pics that have come down, a few recent ones...
http://i1051.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8fa067ea.jpg
and

http://i1051.photobucket.com/albums/...psd78b4c0b.jpg

very odd looking rocks. About 4 or 5cm tall.

[Maka]

The 1st photo seems to look like a bit of mettalic shale worn & withered by erosion? 2nd photo maybe looks like a vent hole fo some sort? Very interesting photo's Madaya, i'm a massive fan of NASA & their achievements over the years- great doco last night on SBS on the moon missions, those / all astronaughts are true hero's of humanity!

cheers, Maka

[Charliewool]

Sorry... Couldn't resist!..

[2011G6E]

Yep, "In The Shadow Of The Moon" last night was absolutely awesome.

Loved the bit where the astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin said that when they climbed into the capsule to leave the moon, it had one engine...and it couldn't be tested at any time since being put together back on Earth. It would either work or it wouldn't, and if it didn't...
They then read the pre-prepared statement that the President would read that said the men were, in effect, dead. "The men who came to the moon in peace, will rest there in peace". Chilling stuff.

Robots like Curiosity are fantastic...but the day a man steps down out of a ship onto the red dusty surface of Mars will really get people excited.

[Madaya]

I always jump the gun (oops, sorry love), but some of the material being sent back from both the old Mars Exploration Rovers, (Opportunity is still functioning, 9yrs after its landing) and the new Mars Science Laboratory, Curiosity, give tantalising glimpses of material that could have been laid down by, or be the remains of living organisms.

Always at the forefront of the mind is this fact. Mars is an alien world. Just because something has an Earthlike analogue, does not mean it has an Earthlike origin. This can be taken two ways of course...
Just because something looks like life (or its remains) doesn't mean it was living. Conversly, just because something looks like an artifact (i.e. non living or having a mineralogical origin), doesn't mean it wasn't once alive.

So, there still remains the big question. Is there life on Mars? So far the results are no. The next question, was there once life on Mars? Well, we shall see.

Below is a link to what appears to be website that discusses possible Martian Fossils. It doesn't appear to be 'Lunar Landing' conspiracy type site. Most of the pics are documented, and a neutral candor seems to dominate the examination of various pics. Interesting stuff.

http://aix1.uottawa.ca/~weinberg/mars/

p.s. I have the 'In the Shadow of the Moon' DVD. Fascinating. Some great stuff on the extended interviews on the extras segment too.

[gtfpv]

So soon we'll be in a situation where no living person has been to / or was involved with humans going to the the moon . thats just not right !!!!

[2011G6E]

I always like the whingers who say humans shouldn't go to Mars or start to colonise the place because "We've already ruined Earth so we have no right to mess up Mars as well".

Sorry, but Mars is already "ruined"...we can only improve the place.

[Madaya]

Originally Posted by gtfpv

So soon we'll be in a situation where no living person has been to / or was involved with humans going to the the moon . thats just not right !!!!

Hey gtfpv, we all know that mankind has walked on the Moon, 6 times = 12 men. I wish things where different then as they are now and that a woman had walked on the Moon. i.e. 50% of the Earths population was denied the ability to give their story. Maybe next time, a woman shall be the first to put her foot on the Moon and any arguments about whether it happened or not will be null and void
Yes, it will be a sad day when the last of the Moonwalkers die, and we still haven't been back there, and I don't care what country does it. Damn, if Oz didn't have so many natural disasters, the money the government has spent on repairs over the last decade, could have set up a basic Moon programme. (I'm speaking out of my hat here, but I imagine it to be alot of dough over the last couple of decades).
However, and well said, let us focus on Mars. Here is another world, maybe a shadow of the present day Earth, but one, which we know once had a climate that may have been favourable to LIFE.
I have a premonition that MSL may yet raise the hackles.

[gtfpv]

Madaya , Not only will we have civilization where no one alive has walked on the moon , we will also have civilizations where no one alive were involved in it . And that isnt too far away.
imagine saying things like , remember when there was no electricity ? humans used to use candles for light and fire for warmth , people used to play cards before radio , etc etc , and ohh yeah i think some people went to the moon once too .kind of disproportionate , wouldn't you say ?

[csv8]

The Space Shuttle was a good , idea..If NASA hadn't gone to the Shuttles, man might be on Mars, now....NASA had plans to go to Mars after the Moon but were cancelled by the Shuttle missions. China has plans to go to the moon in next 10 years..The money spent on wars ,Afghanistan, Iran etc would easily have put men and women on Mars..thats my soap box. We will go to Mars later than sooner...and beyond "engage warp drive Mr Sulu"

[Madaya]

Guys, this is interesting.
It looks like the first ever spacecraft that landed and functioned on Mars (albeit for a very brief time) may have been identified in pictures sent back by the US Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
MRO has been in orbit around the Red Planet since 2005, and in that time, has returned clear pictures of many spacecraft that made it to the ground. The Vikings, Pathfinder, Spirit, Opportunity, Phoenix and the latest, MSL. Their locations are known to within a metre and grabbing pics of them was relatively straight forward.
Mars3 was the third Russian probe, sent to Mars. Launched 28 May 1971, the probe consisted of a lander and an orbiter. Prior to orbit insertion, the lander module was separated from the orbiter section, targeted for an area of Mars that had been roughly surveyed by the 1964, US Mariner 4 probe.
On the 2 December 1971, the probe executed a (planned) hard landing on Mars -they built these things tough.
After stabilising and unfurling its instruments and various panels, it began to transmit its first TV picture. Unfortunately, 14.5 seconds after transmission, all signals from the lander were cut off. Being battery powered, there was little chance it could communicate to its (mother) orbiter which due to a rocket malfunction, ended up in an orbit that delayed its subsequent pass over the lander site from a few hours, to a few weeks.
Now, 42 years later, it appears this little ambassador has been found.
Here is a link to Unmanned Spaceflight.com, the entire thread is worth a read. The new discovery is halfway down page 2.
http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/i...6&st=0&start=0

[MercurySilver]

Cydonia.......

[2011G6E]

Originally Posted by MercurySilver

Cydonia.......

To which I answer "Pareidolia"...

[Nikked]

Originally Posted by Madaya

Looks like a trophy...

[Madaya]

Great trophy! I want the Mars one. In someways it looks like ET
http://theprayingmantis.org/images/ET_0.jpg