Posted on 09/21/2005 9:44:43 AM PDT by Wombat101
Mars getting warmer, orbiter data suggests By MARK CARREAU
Long-running observations by a NASA spacecraft orbiting Mars are revealing subtle signs of seismic activity on the Red Planet and possibly a slow warming trend, scientists said Tuesday.
Circling since September 1997, Global Surveyor is the oldest of five spacecraft — four American and one European — observing Mars from orbit for indications that the cold, barren planet was or is habitable.
Global Surveyor's early identification of a surface mineral that forms in water on Earth prompted NASA to select Mars' dust-covered Meridiani Planum as the landing site for the Opportunity robotic rover early last year.
The mechanical geologist soon found strong evidence of an ancient marshy shoreline.
Repeat imagery of specific locales taken by Global Surveyor's camera that were displayed at a telephone news briefing Tuesday revealed Mars may share similarities with a more geologically active Earth in other ways.
"These images reveal a dynamic surface that is of the type we might experience while hiking on the Earth," said Jack Mustard, a Brown University planetary geologist. "The difference is, this is not the Earth. This is Mars."
The imagery revealed a major rock slide along a crater wall involving a dozen large boulders between November 2003 and December 2004.
Though the rock slide could have been triggered by high winds or reverberations from a meteor impact, the most plausible explanation may be a "Mars quake" because the large boulders were dislodged from different locations on the crater wall, said San Diego researcher Mike Malin, who manages the camera system.
The observations also showed an annual 10-foot erosion in the snow cap at the South Pole.
The cap is made of frozen carbon dioxide, the chief ingredient of the Martian atmos- phere.
"The significance is that Mars is experiencing climate change, or has experienced climate change, because the present atmospheric conditions are not conducive to the formation of all that frozen carbon dioxide," Malin said. "Sometime in the distant past, Mars was colder. Subsequent to that, it has warmed, and we are seeing the earlier deposits erode away."
The scientists said the causes and time frame of the Martian climate change are not clear.
Clearly Halliburton is on some secret mission up on Mars.
Wow, global warming without people, industry, internal comubustion engines and CFC's? How did this happen?
It's Bush's fault, dammit!
Perhaps all that warming will release all of the "freeze-dried water under the surface" we keep hearing about?
you know damn well this is bushes fault.he sent a mars rover up there which probably was a hi octane, gas guzzlin' ,ozone depleting ,vehicle and look what happens..nasa is talking bout going back to the moon ,i shudder at the thought.............
Yeah, it left me speechless too.
I should have included a sarcasm tag. It might not have confused you so much that way. My bad.
They have dust devils. Fairly impressives ones considering how light the atmosphere is and how cold it is there.
Mars is a Fourth World country.
shhhh ... don't tell DU, they'll start a petition for Bush's impeachment.
So it's more advanced than the Middle East?
I suggest sending a Congressional delegation there on a fact-finding junket.
Good idea, and to be fair, we should make it for only Democrats to attend.
one way
"Moderate" Republicans should be denied the opportunity to visit Mars?
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