fritchie
05-01-2004, 10:48 PM
NASA’s Opportunity rover is nearing a new large crater, Endurance, and has been peeking over the crater edge for a while now. The newest images show quite a bit, and also have many more of the strange “pockmarks” which litter this area all the way from its original landing crater. So far, I don’t think NASA has said anything about these pockmarks or holes, except to describe the earliest grouping as a “crack”.
Some of the earlier ones sort of fell along lines, and I thought they might be collapsed lava tubes as are seen in volcanic fields on Earth, but these near the larger crater are so big they have me wondering if they could represent huge chunks of ice from a comet which produced the crater. The crater must be thousands or more likely millions of years old, so it would seem odd for even very large blocks of ice not to have disappeared and the holes filled over that time period. However, possibly they could survive by being buried very deeply in a place where the average temperature is in the range of minus 50 - 80 degrees Fahrenheit or so. This is pure speculation on my part.
The full image (http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/1/p/093/1P136441608EFF1800P2444R1M1.JPG) , taken on sol 93, shows a larger area.
Some of the earlier ones sort of fell along lines, and I thought they might be collapsed lava tubes as are seen in volcanic fields on Earth, but these near the larger crater are so big they have me wondering if they could represent huge chunks of ice from a comet which produced the crater. The crater must be thousands or more likely millions of years old, so it would seem odd for even very large blocks of ice not to have disappeared and the holes filled over that time period. However, possibly they could survive by being buried very deeply in a place where the average temperature is in the range of minus 50 - 80 degrees Fahrenheit or so. This is pure speculation on my part.
The full image (http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/1/p/093/1P136441608EFF1800P2444R1M1.JPG) , taken on sol 93, shows a larger area.