Martian glaciers flowing off interior walls of Renaudot Crater
Cool image time! In the March 1st image release from the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) were two pictures covering sections of the interior rim of 40-mile-wide Renaudot Crater, located in the northern lowland plains of Mars north of the region I dub Mars’ glacier country.
The map to the right provides the context. The two red boxes in Renaudot Crater show the location of the two images below, with the first being the one to the left. Located at about 42 degrees north latitude, we should expect to see evidence of ice and glacial features here, and that is exactly what both photos show.
Click for full image.
The first photo to the right, cropped and reduced to post here, was taken on January 28, 2021. It looks at the southwest quadrant of the crater’s interior rim, down to the crater floor, and shows several adjacent flows, each with terracing that suggests multiple periods of activity, with that activity growing less with time.
The second photo to the right, rotated, cropped, and reduced to post here, was taken on January 18, 2021. It covers the south rim down to the north and into the crater floor, and also shows a flow with similar terracing. The second image also shows what looks like depressions uphill from the flow, suggesting that this glacial feature is sublimating away.
Both photos suggest that the crater has ample ice buried within it. Both also show that these glaciers have gone through many cycles of activity and inactivity. Though scientists think that such glaciers today are inactive, this is not yet confirmed.
One curiosity in the first image is the fact that the glaciers come down off the rim in separate parallel flows. The three flows in the picture do not appear to be following any underlying topology. One would expect that they would flow down into the crater in a single line, similar to waves at a beach. They do not, for reasons that are not apparent. Instead, some sections seem to flow faster, while other sections are impeded.
The support of my readers through the years has given 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. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
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. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to 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.
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Cool image time! In the March 1st image release from the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) were two pictures covering sections of the interior rim of 40-mile-wide Renaudot Crater, located in the northern lowland plains of Mars north of the region I dub Mars’ glacier country.
The map to the right provides the context. The two red boxes in Renaudot Crater show the location of the two images below, with the first being the one to the left. Located at about 42 degrees north latitude, we should expect to see evidence of ice and glacial features here, and that is exactly what both photos show.
Click for full image.
The first photo to the right, cropped and reduced to post here, was taken on January 28, 2021. It looks at the southwest quadrant of the crater’s interior rim, down to the crater floor, and shows several adjacent flows, each with terracing that suggests multiple periods of activity, with that activity growing less with time.
The second photo to the right, rotated, cropped, and reduced to post here, was taken on January 18, 2021. It covers the south rim down to the north and into the crater floor, and also shows a flow with similar terracing. The second image also shows what looks like depressions uphill from the flow, suggesting that this glacial feature is sublimating away.
Both photos suggest that the crater has ample ice buried within it. Both also show that these glaciers have gone through many cycles of activity and inactivity. Though scientists think that such glaciers today are inactive, this is not yet confirmed.
One curiosity in the first image is the fact that the glaciers come down off the rim in separate parallel flows. The three flows in the picture do not appear to be following any underlying topology. One would expect that they would flow down into the crater in a single line, similar to waves at a beach. They do not, for reasons that are not apparent. Instead, some sections seem to flow faster, while other sections are impeded.
The support of my readers through the years has given 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. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
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. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to 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.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five 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:
5. 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. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
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