Strange Boot prints on Mars

I found this article on the net:

SO WHAT IS IT?

The circular indentations (bottom left, upper right) in (Fig.1 ) are explained by NASA’s analysts as the marks left by Mossbauer Spectrometer as it punches the soil to analyze it. But that instrument (see Fig. 2) lies in the rover between the two rows of wheels; yet the bottom left circular imprint is smack within the wheelprint. How can it be? This imprint is also different from both the one on the upper right (made by Opportunity’s instrument) and an imprint (Fig. 5) left by the similar instrument on the twin rover Spirit (that roams on the other side of Mars). The difference remains unexplained.

In response to the question “What Is It?”, scores of answers were mailed in -- from all over the world. A few answered it exactly NASA’s way: Pribyl Frantisek of the Czech Republic; Frank Rumore of New Jersey; Mark Keller of Virginia; Mrs. B.J. Stewart from Canada; Bill Stanley of Tennesee; Mark Miller of Appleton, Wisconsin and Tony Giovanni of Nevada.

Most of the other answers suggested a “footprint” of sorts on the Moon or Mars. Many realized that the “Blueberries” indicated a site on Mars; but, as some explained, the ‘disconnection’ suggested a bootprint rather than a wheel’s track, so it had to be where Man had gone: The “footprint” of an Apollo astronaut’s boot on the Moon (Fig. 6a).

What threw them off, and the other discrepancies detailed above, remain cause for continued headscratching.

SOURCE




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A boot print from Mars??

That is certainly strange but im not to sure it is authentic. There appears to be a face in the print





[edit on 4-7-2008 by bakednutz]

Some sort of company logo which made the boots?

reply to post by amitheone


That could be, but do you not see a face there?

Originally posted by bakednutz
reply to post by amitheone

 

That could be, but do you not see a face there?

To me that simply looks like the "bars" from the caked print crumbled in. Would be nice to see the bottom of a modern day astronauts boot, looking into it.

This image is a boot print on the moon -
it's "bars" are very more clear and spaced apart.


Okay so MAYBE it could be a new model for a boot?! OR it could be more easily explained if we could see an actual image of the Phoenix Mars rover...

All I found was artist impressions from image searching, any real photos out there?

From article- www.space.com...

No wheelin', no dealin'

So what was it about Phoenix that kept toy companies at bay? Could it be a sign that interest is waning in the Mars spacecraft?

"Maybe," said Chris Lewicki, the lander's flight systems engineer, in an interview with collectSPACE last week. Lewicki felt there might be other factors at play, as well.

"Phoenix doesn't have wheels, and isn't coming out of the high drama of two Mars mission failures as [the rovers] did," he said.


So...can the Mars rover maneuver around on wheels or no...





[edit on 4-7-2008 by Sikmike620]

Well its certainly no Nike 'tick'

actually reminds me of the Alienware computers logo

Official explanation is an Apollo astronauts bootprint on the moon.
But this photo has been colored because the original was B&W.
The face looking imprint could be some attachment on the bottom of the boot.
Those boots had about 1000 different functions for any kind of situation or emergency.

reply to post by amitheone


As much as I would like to see a boot print, I just can't get there. I think that there is a easier explanation here.

See the crest where the rover's wheel stopped. There is the empty area that has no track marks. Those marks that should be there are om the other side of the berm, for lack of a better word.
I'm thinking that they we flipped over there when the rover started moving again. Still nicely compacted and straight, just not where we expect them to be.

I can see the face you referring to but I see it as a play on light.

i didn't know the rovers wore boots ?!!!!

you would think the dirt would have some moisture to make that impression.

[edit on 4-7-2008 by easynow]

I'm sure it was simply the tread, or something stuck to it.
It doesn't look like a footprint, or a faceprint.

Jeez aliens are getting kooky if they were.

- lee

A big rolleyes to those of you seeing a face. Common folks, its a print not an alien construction.

You can see another one of those to the upper right and it hasn't crumbled.




I agree that its a moon picture.

The image depicts the tracks left behind by the Mars Exploration Rover.

source: www.marsdaily.com...






[edit on 4-7-2008 by rwiggins]

Does anyone else see what appears to be a face in the upper right hand corner of the original image posted? It appears very little in the picture and it also seems as if there is another head or bust of somone just to the right of it.

I'm not impressed with this. It is nothing.

Originally posted by Blueracer
I'm not impressed with this. It is nothing.

i agree, whos to say this isnt from here on earth IMO it looks like a foot print in
cement powder to me

Well, nodays we see faces in every dirt pile.

The only face worth checking up the the "big" one.

The rest is most probably rocks.
This OP pic however, is most probably a print. I think we all can agree on that. The question is, print from what?

From a boot? From an living being or from the rover?

Speculate...all we can do.

It is definitely the rover's wheel print. Just look at all of the Mars rover pictures and you will see some similar prints left by the wheels. And that mark in the middle (that some here say looks like a face) was made by the Mossbauer spectrometer and rock abrasion device on the rover. The article quoted by the OP says it can't be the spectrometer and abrasion tool because that tool is between the wheels...but the tool is on A MOVING ARM, plus the rover moves, so it could easiliy be that tool.

And the article also said that the wheelmarks looked too flat to be from the rover from the rovers that definitely showed rover wheel tracks, and the tracks were flat. Granted, the tracks usually have the "barrel shape" described in the article, but flat-looking tracks are not uncommon (it probably depends on the soil).

So it seems to me that article is making a big mystery out of nothing -- the mossbauer spectrometer can move, and the tracks can be flat.

[edit on 7/5/2008 by Soylent Green Is People]

Originally posted by wolf241e
reply to post by amitheone

 

See the crest where the rover's wheel stopped. There is the empty area that has no track marks. Those marks that should be there are om the other side of the berm, for lack of a better word.

This is what I thought when I first saw the picture. It looks weird but I don't think it's a footprint.

To add to my post above (I could not edit for some reason):

Here is a picture of the arm containg the Mossbauer spectrometer, abrasion tool and microscopic camera in what is possibly the exact same wheelmark/trench that we see in the OP's picture: