Mars geology that only makes sense by digging deeper
Click for original image.
Today’s cool image is a perfect example of why nothing in science research should ever be taken at face value, without digging a bit deeper. The picture to the right, rotated, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on October 5, 2023 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).
First an important technical point. Though the electronics unit for one of the camera’s color filters is still not working — causing a blank strip down the center of all black & white images, the camera team has gotten around this problem by inserting in that strip other color filter data, thus creating a complete image as you see to the right. This work-around means that MRO’s capabilities, though showing signs of age, will continue almost as good as before.
As for the image itself, when I first looked at it, I was baffled by the striking contrast between the mottled and rough ground in the lower left, and the almost featureless and smooth terrain everywhere else. Why this sudden transition? What could cause it? That inexplicable contrast demanded I post it as a cool image.
Further research however showed that the cause of the contrast was incredibly simple. On the overview map to the right the area covered by the photo above is indicated by the rectangle inside the inset.
The wider view reveals that this rough terrain is the floor of a 5-mile-wide unnamed crater in the equatorial regions of Mars. Even though crater is abot 1,300 feet deep and the crater walls are steep, the walls and the rim are relatively smooth and featureless with the sun’s angle producing few shadows, so that the crater rim blended into the northern plateau and was not recognizable as a steep slope in the high resolution image. What appeared to be a sudden transition from smooth to rough terrain was instead the difference between a smooth plateau and the floor of a crater.
That floor however is significant. It looks very much like glacier debris, but the crater is at 26 degrees north latitude, in the dry Martian tropics where no such ice should be. This picture therefore reinforces the conclusion of the scientists who recently compiled a global map of Mars’ near surface ice, and said that the data suggested that near surface ice existed in this part of the Martian tropics. This picture strengthens that conjecture.
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In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
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Click for original image.
Today’s cool image is a perfect example of why nothing in science research should ever be taken at face value, without digging a bit deeper. The picture to the right, rotated, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on October 5, 2023 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).
First an important technical point. Though the electronics unit for one of the camera’s color filters is still not working — causing a blank strip down the center of all black & white images, the camera team has gotten around this problem by inserting in that strip other color filter data, thus creating a complete image as you see to the right. This work-around means that MRO’s capabilities, though showing signs of age, will continue almost as good as before.
As for the image itself, when I first looked at it, I was baffled by the striking contrast between the mottled and rough ground in the lower left, and the almost featureless and smooth terrain everywhere else. Why this sudden transition? What could cause it? That inexplicable contrast demanded I post it as a cool image.
Further research however showed that the cause of the contrast was incredibly simple. On the overview map to the right the area covered by the photo above is indicated by the rectangle inside the inset.
The wider view reveals that this rough terrain is the floor of a 5-mile-wide unnamed crater in the equatorial regions of Mars. Even though crater is abot 1,300 feet deep and the crater walls are steep, the walls and the rim are relatively smooth and featureless with the sun’s angle producing few shadows, so that the crater rim blended into the northern plateau and was not recognizable as a steep slope in the high resolution image. What appeared to be a sudden transition from smooth to rough terrain was instead the difference between a smooth plateau and the floor of a crater.
That floor however is significant. It looks very much like glacier debris, but the crater is at 26 degrees north latitude, in the dry Martian tropics where no such ice should be. This picture therefore reinforces the conclusion of the scientists who recently compiled a global map of Mars’ near surface ice, and said that the data suggested that near surface ice existed in this part of the Martian tropics. This picture strengthens that conjecture.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
The MRO team deserves some kudos for that slight of tech. Getting some data in the gap is better than no data. Love it.