APOD: Seasonal Streaks Point to Recent on... (2015 Sep 30)

[Sawngrighter]

Bacteria on Mars would have a unique composition from anything that Earth may have evolved.

Not necessarily. If Mars once had a planet wide ocean, the bacteria could be remarkably identical. By the way .. bacteria can make minerals .. http://openwetware.org/images/2/2c/Enca ... Paper5.pdf .. so 'earth' could slowly rise up from the sea. Limestone is, after all, simply crushed seashells. Marble is simply crushed limestone.

[saturno2]

Very very interesting
On Mars possibly there is liquid salty water.
On Mars possibly there is life of some form.
Virus, archaea, bacterias ??

[neufer]

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Very very interesting
On Mars possibly there is liquid salty water.
On Mars possibly there is life of some form.
Virus, archaea, bacterias ??

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What Kinds of Life Forms Could Actually Live on Mars?

[Astronymus]

Very very interesting
On Mars possibly there is liquid salty water.
On Mars possibly there is life of some form.
Virus, archaea, bacterias ??

It's life, Jim. But not as we know it.

[MarkBour]

Although not shown in the depiction in today's APOD, the actual images I saw in the first link in the caption, all have a common characteristic. They show a top-of-hill rocky region, then a smooth sandy sloped region below it. In these, the RSLs form growing down in the sand.

I am reminded first of all of being at the beach and how water can move through the sand. These RSLs may be just in the sand, right up at its surface, but not really exposed on top of it. They could be darkening the sand simply by their presence in it. As they evaporate away, the sand will return to its light color, and the sand isn't actually moving in the process. However, evaporation from within will cause the sand there to depress.

Meanwhile, back to the large rocks. I would not be surprised if these rocks are sitting on top of subsurface liquid sources, perhaps some of significant volume (I guess probably water). The rocks may act as "heating stones" in RSL season. They absorb and retain enough heat that they are warming the area below them, and the resulting melt is being more or less squished out of the sides by their weight.

So, those were my wild speculations for today. Sooner or later one of them ought to turn out correct!

Less speculative, I think is the idea that in some places we should expect to find water underground on Mars. I think the next robotic craft sent to Mars perhaps ought to be a portable drilling rig. Pick a few likely spots and try going down 100 feet, if necessary. Actually, I'm thinking that NASA will become interested in drilling deeper on lots of Solar system bodies. But for Mars, there is a practical benefit in this -- feasibilty of a water well, because they're looking toward manned missions to the place.

[neufer]

I think the next robotic craft sent to Mars perhaps ought to be a portable drilling rig. Pick a few likely spots and try going down 100 feet, if necessary. Actually, I'm thinking that NASA will become interested in drilling deeper on lots of Solar system bodies. But for Mars, there is a practical benefit in this -- feasibilty of a water well, because they're looking toward manned missions to the place.

[b][color=#0000FF][url=http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local/behind-the-lines/43311-coming-soon-to-mars-nasas-insight]NASA Insight mission will explore Martian interior. (Illustration by Tony Auth)[/url][/color][/b]

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NASA will send robot drill to Mars in 2016
By Brian Vastag August 20, 2012

<<In the wake of successfully dropping the SUV-size Curiosity rover on Mars this month, NASA will send another robot to the Red Planet in 2016 to drill into the planet’s crust and, for the first time, piece together a picture of the Martian interior. The $425 million robotic lander, named InSight [Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport], will be built and operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology.

A German-built drill nicknamed “The Mole” will pound 16 feet into the Martian crust to take the temperature of the planet, while a sensitive French-built seismometer will detect any Marsquakes. Together, the instruments will provide vital clues to how Mars formed. “We’ll be able to deduce the deep structure of Mars, which now is a total mystery,” Vane said. “That means all the way down to the core.”

Except for the drill and seismometer, which are new, InSight will be a near-copy of the Phoenix lander NASA dropped onto Mars in 2008, which found water ice near the Martian north pole.>>

[DavidLeodis]

Does anyone please know when the image was taken? The "Horowitz Crater" in the explanation is a link to a photo of a similar looking terrain in a webpage headed "Recurring 'Lineae' on Slopes at Horowitz Crater" that had an image taken on October 21 2007, but I am unable to readily find the date when the APOD image was taken.

[Sawngrighter]

Why should snowfall and snowmelt on Mars NOT be normal?

.

• Martian snow pack is only observed at the poles... where snow does fall "in the proper season".

.[/color][/b]>>

Neufer perhaps your statement should read 'martian snow pack HAS only been observed at the poles.' How about a snowpack beneath a light layer of dust from a dust storm? Mars really is in the infancy of observation.

[Ron-Astro Pharmacist]

I think the next robotic craft sent to Mars perhaps ought to be a portable drilling rig. Pick a few likely spots and try going down 100 feet, if necessary. Actually, I'm thinking that NASA will become interested in drilling deeper on lots of Solar system bodies. But for Mars, there is a practical benefit in this -- feasibilty of a water well, because they're looking toward manned missions to the place.

[b][color=#0000FF][url=http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local/behind-the-lines/43311-coming-soon-to-mars-nasas-insight]NASA Insight mission will explore Martian interior. (Illustration by Tony Auth)[/url][/color][/b]

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NASA will send robot drill to Mars in 2016
By Brian Vastag August 20, 2012

<<In the wake of successfully dropping the SUV-size Curiosity rover on Mars this month, NASA will send another robot to the Red Planet in 2016 to drill into the planet’s crust and, for the first time, piece together a picture of the Martian interior. The $425 million robotic lander, named InSight [Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport], will be built and operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology.

A German-built drill nicknamed “The Mole” will pound 16 feet into the Martian crust to take the temperature of the planet, while a sensitive French-built seismometer will detect any Marsquakes. Together, the instruments will provide vital clues to how Mars formed. “We’ll be able to deduce the deep structure of Mars, which now is a total mystery,” Vane said. “That means all the way down to the core.”

Except for the drill and seismometer, which are new, InSight will be a near-copy of the Phoenix lander NASA dropped onto Mars in 2008, which found water ice near the Martian north pole.>>

Of course there is always the "Lawn Dart" method. Though I wouldn't want to fly on one

Land Dart.jpg (9.34 KiB) Viewed 1295 times

there seems some momentum to use their velocity to penetrate Mars's secrets.

[neufer]

Of course there is always the "Lawn Dart" method. Though I wouldn't want to fly on one

Elon Musk: 'I'd like to die on Mars, just not on impact.'

http://www.cagle.com/2015/09/water-on-mars-5/

[neufer]

http://m.columbiatribune.com/opinion/da ... ac61e.html

[Ann]

http://m.columbiatribune.com/opinion/da ... ac61e.html

Ann