Posted on 06/25/2013 3:09:39 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Explanation: This is Mars -- have a look around. More specifically, this is one area picked for its promise of holding clues to the habitability of Mars to ancient life. To better search for telling leads, the robotic Curiosity rover took a series of detailed images from a location called Rock Nest. Over 900 of these images were then composed into one of the highest resolution images ever created of the red planet -- a composite containing over one billion pixels. Shown above, toward the middle of this image mosaic, is Mt. Sharp, the central peak of the large crater where the Curiosity rover landed and is currently exploring. An interactive and zoomable version of this image is available here. Over the next few years, Curiosity is scheduled to roll toward the peak of ancient Mt. Sharp, all the while keeping a lookout for distinguishing geological and chemical markers.
(Excerpt) Read more at 129.164.179.22 ...
[Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, MSSS, Mastcam]
It is amazing how much Mars resembles the bulk of the Arabian peninsula.
Not if you think about the periodic table. Elements are going to combine to form rocks and dirt on any planet that has the elements ie. expect inner planets at the other end of the observable universe to look just like this. There are no exotic compounds to be found in space that aren't found here on earth simply because chemistry is the same over the entire universe. What amazes me is that on Mars with a mere .006 of earth's atmosphere there is enough wind activity to blow dust and sand around. I suppose that having 1/3 the gravity makes it easier to move particles. Or maybe it's global warming due to human activity - makes as much sense on mars as it does here.
Exactly the mental picture I had when reading “all the while keeping a lookout for distinguishing geological and chemical markers.”
Thanks for finding & inserting the cartoon.
For now, anyway.
Some day our self preservation may require that the arabian peninsula look more like an old time Coke bottle.
That’ll never fit for a desktop.
Thanks for posting!
Large image, all the way to the right, 1 inch up, 1/3 from the right on the screen is a rock that LOOKS just like a chunk of rotted plywood or rusted plate iron layers laying on the surface. Probably just some form of eroded sedimentary or shock compressed rock. ( I will not even mention the fat little origami duck rock in the middle on the other side of screen.)
Anyway, if I were picking rocks for curiosity to examine that would be the one.
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