What the heck caused these cones to align on Mars?
Click for original image.
Time for another “What the heck?” cool image! The picture to the right, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on May 23, 2024 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). It shows what the science team labels as “longitudinally aligned cones”.
To my eye the cones visibile in this picture seem more aligned latitudinally, to the east-west, instead of longitudinally, north-south, but the larger view in the inset on the overview map below shows that on a larger scale, the cones do appear aligned in a north-south direction.
Either way, this is one of those photos from Mars orbit that leaves me entirely baffled. The cones and the flow feature that cuts across the middle of the image might be either volcanic or glacial, but it is beyond my pay grade to explain what caused this patch of aligned cones.
The white dot on the overview map to the right marks the location, about 500 to 900 miles south of the candidate landing sites for SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft. This region is also south of 30 degrees latitude and is thus in the dry tropics of Mars. We therefore are not looking at glacial flow features, but the frozen flood lava that dominates the plains in this region.
This fact however really explains nothing. In the inset you can see that the east-west flow feature in the center of the picture actually extends in both directions, and appears branch out into many tributaries to the west. However, it is impossble to determine the direction of flow. Though the grade has a slight tilt downhill to the east, that is hardly consistent, and the appearance of the tributaries themselves suggest they were flowing to the west when they were laid down.
Most likely the entire tilt of the landscape has probably changed since this lava was laid down, making it impossible to determine anything about the flow pattern from orbit.
Either way, none of this accounts for the cones. They are possibly frozen burst bubbles of lava, but that doesn’t explain their apparent alignment.
Everyone is free to make their own guesses, though I suspect no real solution will be possible until an actual person is walking this terrain with a rock hammer.
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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.
Time for another “What the heck?” cool image! The picture to the right, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on May 23, 2024 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). It shows what the science team labels as “longitudinally aligned cones”.
To my eye the cones visibile in this picture seem more aligned latitudinally, to the east-west, instead of longitudinally, north-south, but the larger view in the inset on the overview map below shows that on a larger scale, the cones do appear aligned in a north-south direction.
Either way, this is one of those photos from Mars orbit that leaves me entirely baffled. The cones and the flow feature that cuts across the middle of the image might be either volcanic or glacial, but it is beyond my pay grade to explain what caused this patch of aligned cones.
The white dot on the overview map to the right marks the location, about 500 to 900 miles south of the candidate landing sites for SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft. This region is also south of 30 degrees latitude and is thus in the dry tropics of Mars. We therefore are not looking at glacial flow features, but the frozen flood lava that dominates the plains in this region.
This fact however really explains nothing. In the inset you can see that the east-west flow feature in the center of the picture actually extends in both directions, and appears branch out into many tributaries to the west. However, it is impossble to determine the direction of flow. Though the grade has a slight tilt downhill to the east, that is hardly consistent, and the appearance of the tributaries themselves suggest they were flowing to the west when they were laid down.
Most likely the entire tilt of the landscape has probably changed since this lava was laid down, making it impossible to determine anything about the flow pattern from orbit.
Either way, none of this accounts for the cones. They are possibly frozen burst bubbles of lava, but that doesn’t explain their apparent alignment.
Everyone is free to make their own guesses, though I suspect no real solution will be possible until an actual person is walking this terrain with a rock hammer.
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.
Ejecta trails??? But if you look to the east, apparently nothing there.