[Orion78]

Just wanted to know if anybody out there noticed this wierd looking rock. I've emailed NASA to see if they noticed it and to ask if it is an "artifact" of the picture or a shadow. I also asked, if it really is a rectangular hole, how could it have been formed. I haven't received a reply yet.

If it is really is a hole in the rock, then hopefully this will be a target for the rover when it finally rolls onto the surface.

Let me know what you FReepers out there think.

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[doug from upland]

The rock sort of looks like Sheila Jackson Lee.

[cyborg]

Looks like a log cabin to me LOL

[Prime Choice]

I looked closer at the rock, and the area you point out is not really rectangular. It's nearly rectangular, but -- on closer inspection -- the edges show as naturally-occuring slight curves no different than what has been seen on terran and lunar rocks.

[farmfriend]

Looks like a Chevy.

[Charles Henrickson]

It's a spider hole!

So that's where Osama's been hiding!

[Johnny_Cipher]

Its a twister. Its a twister.

Or swamp gas.

[Brett66]

Hoagland's all over this:

Machinery Found at Spirit Landing Site

[WackyKat]

Looks like an engine block from an old Ford pickup

[microgood]

There were some pieces of the airbags laying around the landing sight. Are you sure it is not part of that debris?

[martin_fierro]

That shore does look like one of them there purty cabins that Bob Ross paints.

[AppauledAtAppeasementConservat]

You noticed it too? So did I just a couple of hours ago. Downloaded the full 64mb tiff to look at it in further detail.

I could't even begin to hazard a guess but did you notice what looks like stratagraphic lines on the facing side as well?

Interesting. I doubt even the best scientists will even hazard a guess much less speculate in public. Almost looks like a megacrystic metamorphic rock. Could explain the rectangular hole on the side. Crystal falling out a long time ago maybe and then sand blasting could have enlarged it? Who knows?

Any geologists on the forum?

[doug from upland]

It does look interesting.

[bolobaby]

Dude - ever been to NH? Just think about "The Old Man of the Mountain." The LATE Old Man, but you get the idea.

Sometimes random rocks look like stuff. Like clouds.

[Graymatter]

That's an institutional toilet seat, of course. They go up automatically.

[Orion78]

Here is a black and white "RAW" image of the same rock. I believe it is the same picture as the one above, but without the color.

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/2/p/001/2P126471476EFF0000P2303L2M1.JPG

[Route66]

Here is a link to another incomplete image which just happens to show that rock. I think it leaves little doubt that it's a hole.

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/2/p/001/2P126471476EFF0000P2303L2M1.JPG

[Tim Osman]

looks like a waste of a couple hundred million dollars to me...

:)

[stuck_in_new_orleans]

does anyone else find it odd that as soon as the UK gets close to landing a craft on mars and now the chinesse space program that now all of a sudden we seem to be doing very well in our space exploration.

- The sucessful landing, the weird space mud that cant be mud, now this.

[Joe Hadenuf]

Actually, what I find more interesting is the two dark areas within smooth mostly rockless, crater like area, beyond the rock that you pointed out.

The two dark areas, within that crater like depression look interesting, if they are not bounce marks made by the airbags.