SCI/TECH: NASA Finds Potential Fossil on Mars

Recent photos from the Mars Rover Missions reveal what could be a potential fossil on the red planet. The outcropping that Opportunity examined last week, upon close examination, resembles a crinoid fossil. A crinoid is a marine plant like animal that was dominant in the Cambrian Era here on earth. If you have any interest in the Mars findings, this article is a must read.

enterprisemission.com � The Curious Case of the Crinoid Cover-Up
A few days ago, on Sol 33, the Martian Rover "Opportunity" was commanded to roll forward to begin intensive investigation of a small section of the rocky outcrop, rimming this small crater that it's been exploring in a region of Mars, called "Meridiani Planum," since shortly after it landed there, January 25 th . The overall, few inches high outcrop, which spans approximately 180 degrees of the crater's interior, has been dubbed by the JPL Rover Team "Opportunity Ledge." The specific section that Opportunity was ordered to investigate last week is about in the middle of this outcrop (below), is approximately ten inches high, and was named by the Team "El Capitan."
Preparatory to actually drilling into El Capitan and making detailed composition measurements with the array of sophisticated instruments on the Rover's "arm," Opportunity was commanded to take a series of close-up Microscopic Images of the untouched surface of the rock with the B&W CCD camera attached to the arm. One of those images (1M131201699EFF0500P29933M2M1.jpg) revealed an amazing sight (below):
A potential Martian fossil !
A close-up enlargement of this fascinating object (above � bottom), reveals an apparently "snapped off" body geometry, at least five visible cylindrical "segments," and a hint of other fossil-like features buried in the surrounding rock itself � all classic hallmarks of a former living organism!
So, what did the JPL Rover science Team do with this potentially explosive scientific find �?
They promptly ground it into powder � right before our eyes

Richard C. Hoagland of The Enterprise Mission presents a solid case that the item pictured could in fact have been a fossil. He also discusses the �blueberries� that were found at the Opportunity site, and claims that in a properly calibrated image, the blueberries are in fact blue. The color calibration of the Mars Lander photos has been discussed in detail before, but the question has again been raised along with more serious questions about what NASA has found on Mars.


Related ATS Discussion:
Theory on Martian Spheres photographed by Opportunity rover

This is very interesting indeed. I hope they'll keep looking and maybe they'll find more fossils.

Fwore. This is good news

at this rate Nasa will release that they've found intelligent extraterrestrial life by the end of the year

well this is quite interesting.

IF that fossil is real, what a discovery!

It's the next best thing since the escape of Batboy

And just for questioning reasons, how would anyone know if it was intelligent (if the fossil is real)?

Perhaps it was an intergalactic cow

On the other hand, it looks like one of those tuber worms that are found at the bottom of the ocean.

If NASA found that there was life on mars that was like the life on earth, perhaps a race somewhat like humans lived there?


Im open to any ideas (thats why I came here, to ATS, along with my interest in the unknown).

Cheers

CATFISH

[Edited on 10-3-2004 by Catfish]

It also looks like it could be a root of some kind. Maybe from some intelligent alien plant life. It's cool though. I just hope NASA keeps sharing this stuff with the public.

Originally posted by misscleo
It also looks like it could be a root of some kind. Maybe from some intelligent alien plant life. It's cool though. I just hope NASA keeps sharing this stuff with the public.

share with the public? ooo thats a good one.

Once they discover that its not just rocks theyre finding, theyll be all over the place with legal crud, contracts, right of owning it or whatever. I hope they share too, as an entire planet shouldnt be owned by a companie in the US

CATFISH

WOW ! Looks very similar to some Voynich manuscript plants.

Im pretty sure that this is a hoax.

Isnt Mars supposed to be RED????


CATFISH

Question:

How long would an exposed rock take to erode while dealing with the enviornment of Mars? Wouldn't this destroy any evidence on this surface over time?

what does nasa say about this haven't heard of it now isn't time to ask what how they explain this one.

Originally posted by Jonna
Question:
How long would an exposed rock take to erode while dealing with the enviornment of Mars? Wouldn't this destroy any evidence on this surface over time?

Opportunity landed in a crater, so the exposed surface hasn't always been exposed.

Catfish, how can this be a hoax, isn't this a NASA image?

Greetings, Catfish! (SpaceCatfish, I presume?) Long time no see.

RCH finally comes up with something that might be for real, and no one will listen, since he has cried wolf for so many years. Too bad.

I've looked at thousands of images from Mars, this is the best one yet. It may be a fossil. If it is, there will be plenty more around, I would think.

Linda Mouton Howe will be screaming about this image at the next press conference. I'm interested to hear the NASA response.

Did I read correctly? NASA ground up the fossil after looking it over?
I can't tell you how furious it will make me if the continue to deny that life existed there after so blatant of a coverup.

Originally posted by bios
Did I read correctly? NASA ground up the fossil after looking it over?
I can't tell you how furious it will make me if the continue to deny that life existed there after so blatant of a coverup.

Well considering theres a news story about it along with pictures, I don't imagine it would be too big of a cover up. And I'm sure if there's one, there are going to be plenty others, if it is indeed a fossil.

Talk about misleading!

You would think by looking at that image that the multi-fingered plant looking thing was what they found on mars. No. They found the small lump in the inset photo. The big image with the fingered object is a picture of the earth fossil that someone thinks that the lump resembles a part of, because it appears to have 'segments' in it. Have you never seen how lava wrinkles and folds and makes 'segments' when its cooling? Half of hawaii is covered in it.

I first tried to find the image that they referred to on nasa's site, but couldn't. OMG they deleted it - coverup! No, 1) the image turned out to be from sol 34, not sol 33, and 2) they had a typo in the image name.
its really :
1M131201699EFF0500P2933M2M1.jpg,
not the
1M131201699EFF0500P29933M2M1.jpg
that is listed in the story. You can view it here at the nasa link:
marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov...

There is no coverup here, no story. Move along.

I noticed that image, when the raw data was first posted.
Looks like a fossil.
Or, it could just be eroded layers of the bedrock. If it was deposited in layers, then eroded at an angle to the layers, I suppose it could present itself that way.

Look at some of the other erosion patterns. There seems to be a lot of curvature. Maybe a lot of fossils?
Or maybe just the way the layers were exposed.

Originally posted by ymfty
Talk about misleading! You would think by looking at that image that the multi-fingered plant looking thing was what they found on mars.

I expected members to actually read the article, and not just look at pictures. The pictures are showing the similarities between the Mars photo and a crinoid fossil.

Indeed, the large photo is a chrinoid fossil from Earth. I looked for the smaller inset photo on the NASA website and didn't find it either, but it was not an exhaustive search.

Originally posted by quaternary
Indeed, the large photo is a chrinoid fossil from Earth. I looked for the smaller inset photo on the NASA website and didn't find it either, but it was not an exhaustive search.

Look here --->Opportunity SOL 34 for raw images of before and after the grinding.