A Martian crater with a surface pattern that resembles hanging draperies
Cool image time! The picture to the right, rotated, cropped, reduced, and enhanced to post here, was taken on January 27, 2023 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), and shows what the scientists label a “streak-spoke pattern” inside the crater. To my eye, the pattern more resembles hanging draperies, neatly tied near the top and then pulled apart as they descend to the ground.
This photo was a follow-up to a previous picture by MRO on February 4, 2008, more than seven Martian years ago, to see if there had been any identifiable changes in that time. Both images were taken in springtime, and despite the passage of time, the 2023 image shows no obvious changes from the 2008 photo.
What caused this distinct pattern? The first guess would be the wind, except if so shouldn’t there have been some change over seven Martian years?
The white dot north of the Starship candidate landing zone on the overview map to the right marks the location of this crater, at 45 degrees north latitude on the vast Martian northern lowland plains. At this latitude there is a lot of near surface ice, and this crater is no exception. Not only does the terrain around the crater have features that invoke ice (such as cracks), the crater itself appears filled with glacial ice, as indicated by the cracks near the crater’s interior rim.
My wild guess for the creation of this pattern is the Sun itself. At this latitude the Sun would generally be to the south. If the slope of the glacier inside the crater is just right, as the Sun rises in the east, crosses the sky, and then sets in the west, its light could just touch the surface in such a manner as to melt away this kind of pattern, especially as the Sun’s height from the southern horizon rises and falls with the seasons.
This is a wild guess, of course, based on nothing, and is almost certainly utterly wrong. The cause of the pattern could be from many other things, but don’t ask me to name them, for I have no idea what they might be.
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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:
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Cool image time! The picture to the right, rotated, cropped, reduced, and enhanced to post here, was taken on January 27, 2023 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), and shows what the scientists label a “streak-spoke pattern” inside the crater. To my eye, the pattern more resembles hanging draperies, neatly tied near the top and then pulled apart as they descend to the ground.
This photo was a follow-up to a previous picture by MRO on February 4, 2008, more than seven Martian years ago, to see if there had been any identifiable changes in that time. Both images were taken in springtime, and despite the passage of time, the 2023 image shows no obvious changes from the 2008 photo.
What caused this distinct pattern? The first guess would be the wind, except if so shouldn’t there have been some change over seven Martian years?
The white dot north of the Starship candidate landing zone on the overview map to the right marks the location of this crater, at 45 degrees north latitude on the vast Martian northern lowland plains. At this latitude there is a lot of near surface ice, and this crater is no exception. Not only does the terrain around the crater have features that invoke ice (such as cracks), the crater itself appears filled with glacial ice, as indicated by the cracks near the crater’s interior rim.
My wild guess for the creation of this pattern is the Sun itself. At this latitude the Sun would generally be to the south. If the slope of the glacier inside the crater is just right, as the Sun rises in the east, crosses the sky, and then sets in the west, its light could just touch the surface in such a manner as to melt away this kind of pattern, especially as the Sun’s height from the southern horizon rises and falls with the seasons.
This is a wild guess, of course, based on nothing, and is almost certainly utterly wrong. The cause of the pattern could be from many other things, but don’t ask me to name them, for I have no idea what they might be.
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.
Sure Starship hasn’t made it up there yet?
That’s what I would expect.
Land here Elon…there’s a cargo cult waiting.