Posted on 09/30/2015 1:04:20 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Explanation: What creates these changing streaks on Mars? Called Recurring Slope Linea (RSL), these dark features start on the slopes of hills and craters but don't usually extend to the bottom. What's even more unusual is that these streaks appear to change with the season, appearing fresh and growing during warm weather and disappearing during the winter. After much study, including a recent chemical analyses, a leading hypothesis has emerged that these streaks are likely created by new occurrences of liquid salty water that evaporates as it flows. The source for the briny water is still unclear, with two possibilities being condensation from the Martian atmosphere and underground reservoirs. An exciting inference is that if these briny flows are not too salty, they may be able to support microbial life on Mars even today. The featured image of a hill inside Horowitz Crater was investigated by instruments aboard the robotic Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter that has been returning data from Mars since 2006.
(Excerpt) Read more at 129.164.179.22 ...
[Credit: NASA, JPL, U. Arizona]
To me it looks like the Rocks are rolling down the hill
CAN WE SKI DOWN OLYMPUS MONS?...................
Rolling Stones gather no Mass.....................
Skateboard, because no snow. Oh, and you’ll want to practice holding your breath for long periods.
We could use CO2 rebreathers................
“The featured image of a hill inside Horowitz Crater was investigated by instruments aboard the robotic Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter . . .”
1. They are dancing around calling it a photograph. Is this a computer-generated rendering? If so, I’d like to be told.
2. I forget: does the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have a ground-based component, that can take images like this from the ground and send them up to the orbiter?
I’m not that impressed .... sounds more like a pre-budget pimp job than significant scientific advance!
Tough crowd today, huh Mr. Civilizations?
It is certainly an interesting pattern, and
I hope that there really is water on Mars.
Tough room? That’s every day here on FR. ;’)
There’s some water ice locked up in the soil. These patterns of erosion result from impacts from space — the energy melts the ice to vapor, which produces a temporary microclimate, allowing liquid water to flow. As the vapor dissipates, everything re-freezes. That accounts for the from-nowhere-to-nowhere patterns.
It’s a photograph, taken digitally, like on a camera phone; it was taken from orbit, but looks like a long angle, rather than straight down.
Many thanks! I was confused because they said the hill is located inside a crater, which seemed to rule out a long, long photo from the horizon of the planet. And it still looks like we’re looking up towards the summit. Could even the best satellite get a photo looking *upwards* at the Washington Monument?
I truly enjoy all your civilization posts.
Thank you for the clarification, my friend.
You’re so admirably up on all this APOD stuff.
The next-gen probes will be even better. :’)
NASA eyes ion engines for Mars orbiter launching in 2022
http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/03/03/nasa-eyes-ion-engines-for-mars-orbiter-launching-in-2022/
Of the planets besides Earth, Mars has the best prospect for human settlements (with some major provisos of course).
OTOH, the Earth could easily support twice the current population via the refoliation of the Sahara, and connecting the Qattara Depression with the Mediterranean would reduce sea level a scosh, and produce a coooler, wetter climate in Saharan Africa.
Vigilanteman discusses Qattara Depression (Why melting polar ice is not a threat)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1787143/posts?page=11#11
“About 19,605 km2 of the Qattara Depresssion is below sea level,”
http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/169468/
7,570 sq mi, avg depth -200 ft
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qattara_Depression
(that’s 286.74 cubic miles capacity; Greenland has an estimated 684,000 cu mi of ice, mostly above sealevel; Antarctica has an estimated 6.36 million cubic miles of ice, some of which is already below sealevel)
My pleasure, thanks ToL!
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