NASA finds 20 new impact craters on Mars

I came across this today and did not see anything about it here on ATS. This is interesting to me, as it shows the dangers of exploring/living on a planet with much less atmosphere. It also illustrates how many "new" impacts can be seen when 2/3 of the planet is not covered in water. 20 new impact craters between 1999 and 2006. OR could they be something besides impact craters?

Two of the 20 new impact craters determined by the Mars Global Surveyor's Mars Orbiter Camera science operations team to have formed between May 1999 and March 2006 occur at a location that the narrow-angle camera imaged previously. This is surprising given that the narrow-angle camera, with its 3-kilometer-wide (1.9-mile-wide) field of view, has only covered about 5.2 percent of the Martian surface. One of the two craters that formed where the camera had already taken a narrow-angle image is featured here.

Figures A and B: The first two figures show sub-frames of an image acquired on March 13, 2006. The first one has been colorized using a table derived from the colors of Mars as seen by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera. The impact site is located near 27.3 degrees north latitude, 91.8 degrees west longitude, on the upper north flank of the Martian volcano Ulysses Patera. Fine details are evident at the impact site, showing how the blast moved dust around and interacted with craters and other small obstacles on the ground. The crater has a diameter of about 19.8 meters (about 65 feet).

Figure C: The third figure shows before-and-after narrow-angle camera views of the impact site. The before image was acquired on Feb. 24, 2002. The after image was acquired on March 13, 2006.

Other images from Mars-orbiting spacecraft cover this location and show the impact site, including data from the Mars Express High Resolution Stereo Camera and Mars Odyssey Thermal Emission Imaging System. These other data help constrain when the impact occurred. The last orbiter image obtained before the impact was taken on April 18, 2003. The first orbiter image that showed the impact feature was obtained on Feb. 7, 2004. Thus, the impact occurred between those dates, April 18, 2003, and Feb. 7, 2004.

The Mars Global Surveyor mission is managed for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., a division of the California Institute of Technology, also in Pasadena. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, developed and operates the spacecraft. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, Calif., built and operates the Mars Orbiter Camera.

www.nasa.gov...

[edit on 26-6-2009 by Aggie Man]

Very suspicious. NASA says "Impact Craters" but what do they mean by that? Actual impact craters? Or 20 new underground bases or dome shaped buildings. NASA loves it's code words.

I think this shows the danger of living on any planet.

There is no reason why these twenty impacts could not have been on earth.

Makes you think, doesn't it?

Regards S_G

Originally posted by xSMOKING_GUNx
I think this shows the danger of living on any planet.

There is no reason why these twenty impacts could not have been on earth.

Makes you think, doesn't it?

Regards S_G

What if the moon is actually our saviour? An artificial satellite placed there to intercept comets and asteroids?

reply to post by AboveGeneric


Good theory

Originally posted by AboveGeneric

What if the moon is actually our saviour? An artificial satellite placed there to intercept comets and asteroids?

Artificial or not, one thing is for sure. One look at our moon shows just how many times the moon has "taken one for team Earth". All hail mighty moon

[edit on 26-6-2009 by Aggie Man]

Originally posted by AboveGeneric
What if the moon is actually our saviour? An artificial satellite placed there to intercept comets and asteroids?

Definitely didn't help the dinos.

Originally posted by AboveGeneric
What if the moon is actually our saviour? An artificial satellite placed there to intercept comets and asteroids?

It may be true that the Moon intercepted some asteroids and comets that would have otherwise hit the Earth, but the Earth has been hit by more space objects by far than the Moon ever has in both of their histories.

Here's a true-scale Moon-Earth size and distance comparison:
www.traipse.com...

The Moon doesn't really stop that many objects. Of course, the Moon was once much closer to the Earth, and that helped, but the Earth still has been hit many more times than the Moon.

The Moon HAS helped, but only a little.

Originally posted by xSMOKING_GUNx
I think this shows the danger of living on any planet.

There is no reason why these twenty impacts could not have been on earth.

Makes you think, doesn't it?

Regards S_G

Mars's atmosphere is much thinner than Earth's. Many of the meteors that impact mars would have burned up in earth's atmosphere.

There are several meteor fireballs seen every year in Earth's skies -- many of which could be objects the same size as the ones that impacted Mars recently.

[edit on 6/26/2009 by Soylent Green Is People]

I wonder if someone could imbed a graphic of side by side comparison of the same area pre-impact and after. That would be an interesting pic.

You mean something like this?

www.nasa.gov...