Starship Asterisk*

Perseverance in Jezero Crater's Delta

Explanation: The Perseverance rover's Mastcam-Z captured images to create this mosaic on August 4, 2022. The car-sized robot was continuing its exploration of the fan-shaped delta of a river that, billions of years ago, flowed into Jezero Crater on Mars. Sedimentary rocks preserved in Jezero's delta are considered one of the best places on Mars to search for potential signs of ancient microbial life and sites recently sampled by the rover, dubbed Wildcat Ridge and Skinner Ridge, are at lower left and upper right in the frame. The samples taken from these areas were sealed inside ultra-clean sample tubes, ultimately intended for return to Earth by future missions. Starting with the Pathfinder Mission and Mars Global Surveyor in 1997, the last 25 years of a continuous robotic exploration of the Red Planet has included orbiters, landers, rovers, and a helicopter from planet Earth</a>.

<< Previous APOD

This Day in APOD

Next APOD >>

When I was young (I was born in 1940) and fascinated by Mars, it was mainstream to believe that there was vegetation on Mars. After all, the dark areas changed with the seasons! Now it is close to certain (close, not certain) that there is no life at all on Mars, and so far no trace of previous life has been found. It is also sad that Mars' atmosphere is just 1% of Earth's, and that Mars is so cold. Given our human nature I expect people will eventually walk on what you see in today's APOD. But it seems hardly possible to me that there will ever be a significant human population on Mars. Sigh!

I kinda wish they didn't black out the robot on these pictures! I love
that APOD keeps us posted on the Mars exploration!

heehaw wrote: ↑Sat Sep 17, 2022 11:06 am When I was young (I was born in 1940) and fascinated by Mars, it was mainstream to believe that there was vegetation on Mars. After all, the dark areas changed with the seasons! Now it is close to certain (close, not certain) that there is no life at all on Mars, and so far no trace of previous life has been found. It is also sad that Mars' atmosphere is just 1% of Earth's, and that Mars is so cold. Given our human nature I expect people will eventually walk on what you see in today's APOD. But it seems hardly possible to me that there will ever be a significant human population on Mars. Sigh!

I’m younger at 57 but i got into astronomy when i was about 8 and I remember those books thinking how cool it would be… I stink of it as “Mars: the way it should have been”. The same way Venus should have been a tropical planet full of dinosaurs! Oh well even at that young age I knew how the Mariners had destroyed that dream.
I just wish one day one of the rovers will discover a incontrovertible fossil!
Though it seems an impossible task now I do think we will one day terraform Mars. I can’t help but the inexhaustible supply of comets we could smash into the planet to start the process.
Seriously though just twenty years ago did anyone (besides Rubin) really think we would have a helicopter flying on Mars?
Interesting times…

Eric

What would that inverted "U" piece be on top of another opposite "U" in the lower left quadrant? Are they loose parts of the probe? (In color blue)

XgeoX wrote: ↑Sat Sep 17, 2022 1:39 pm

heehaw wrote: ↑Sat Sep 17, 2022 11:06 am When I was young (I was born in 1940) and fascinated by Mars, it was mainstream to believe that there was vegetation on Mars. After all, the dark areas changed with the seasons! Now it is close to certain (close, not certain) that there is no life at all on Mars, and so far no trace of previous life has been found. It is also sad that Mars' atmosphere is just 1% of Earth's, and that Mars is so cold. Given our human nature I expect people will eventually walk on what you see in today's APOD. But it seems hardly possible to me that there will ever be a significant human population on Mars. Sigh!

I’m younger at 57 but i got into astronomy when i was about 8 and I remember those books thinking how cool it would be… I stink of it as “Mars: the way it should have been”. The same way Venus should have been a tropical planet full of dinosaurs! Oh well even at that young age I knew how the Mariners had destroyed that dream.
I just wish one day one of the rovers will discover a incontrovertible fossil!
Though it seems an impossible task now I do think we will one day terraform Mars. I can’t help but the inexhaustible supply of comets we could smash into the planet to start the process.
Seriously though just twenty years ago did anyone (besides Rubin) really think we would have a helicopter flying on Mars?
Interesting times…

Eric

Rubin?

Also older, and remembering depictions of imagined Mars conditions, including the "large cracks" in the planet!! While the "search" may produce collateral advances for scientific understanding, the expense of that search appears to be exorbitant and counter-productive for society as a whole. "Mankind" cannot afford to "go elsewhere" before addressing our problems here, first!

Sa Ji Tario wrote: ↑Sat Sep 17, 2022 3:12 pm What would that inverted "U" piece be on top of another opposite "U" in the lower left quadrant? Are they loose parts of the probe? (In color blue)

This? It looks like an unusual rock, to me. But maybe worth a closer look. I wonder what color it "really" is.

Has anyone else Seen the John Carter of Mars movie or read Edgar Rice Burroughs' series of novels? They're very entertaining.

MarkBour wrote: ↑Sat Sep 17, 2022 10:37 pm

Sa Ji Tario wrote: ↑Sat Sep 17, 2022 3:12 pm What would that inverted "U" piece be on top of another opposite "U" in the lower left quadrant? Are they loose parts of the probe? (In color blue)

Click to view full size image

This? It looks like an unusual rock, to me. But maybe worth a closer look. I wonder what color it "really" is.

Good question. I think it is dark and non-red. Not blue. Blue rocks are exceedingly rare. On Earth, there exists a blue rock named lapis lazuli, which is found in small quantities in some excavations in Afghanistan.

UdaipurTimes wrote:
The discovery of Lapis Lazuli, a semi precious stone at the archaeological site at Chandrawati in Sirohi district recently, indicates trade relations between the Parmar dynasty and Afghanistan, way back in the Harappan times...

“Lapis is a semi-precious stone prized since antiquity for its intense blue color. It has been mined in the Badakhshan province of Afghanistan for 6,500 years. The trade in the stone is ancient enough for lapis jewelry to have been found at pre-dynastic Egyptian sites, and lapis beads at Neolithic burials in Mehrgarh, the Caucasus, and even as far from Afghanistan as Mauritania,” said project director Prof JS Kharakwal of JRN Rajasthan Vidyapeeth.

We have no reason to think that any rocks found on the Martian surface are made of lapis lazuli. Therefore, the bluish-looking Martian rock in the APOD is not blue, but dark and non-red. The reason it looks blue is that the ground that it rests on is so reddish.

How about the rock in question is made of basalt? That's an igneous rock that is fits the requested "color bill". It's common enough, too.

Note that the bedrock seen in the APOD is red, but the fine-grained regolith (sand) on top of it is dark and non-red. I think that a high proportion of basalt grains could be mixed into the regolith to make it dark.

Ann

Thanks, Ann! I see that basalt is common on Mars, in agreement with your choice.

Sa Ji Tario, that image did not come through for me, sorry.