Mars Rover Examines Weird Coating on Rocks

reply to post by MysterE

Martian spherules (also known as blueberries due to their blue hue in false-color images released by NASA) are the abundant spherical hematite inclusions discovered by the Mars rover Opportunity at Meridiani Planum on the planet Mars. They are found in situ embedded in a sulfate salt evaporitic matrix, and also loose on the surface.

en.wikipedia.org...

This is pertaining to the folks who say the first picture looks like some kind of wood. I'm not at all trying to bash that idea, because for all I know it could be. But mars rovers take samples of stuff, and it took a picture of this thing, so I would expect that the rover would try to take a sample of the rock, or the lichen-looking stuff on it. And if they did, then we, or at least they, would be able to analyze it and see if it is organic. Of course, this brings up the question of whether NASA and the people in charge would even make it known to the public whether it is organic or not.

Very cool! Thank you for posting this.

And it does look like a World Map. The thing that looks like a plant in the upper right corner kinda looks like a sea monster or a navigation symbol the old World Maps used to use.

reply to post by Phage


Touche my friend, good find and explaination.

-E-

Originally posted by Doc Velocity
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/d2e3121c922f.gif[/atsimg]

This may be stranger than we imagine... Look closely at the shapes created by the "blue lichen"... Looks remarkably like North America (sans Florida) and Central America, with Greenland depicted, as well.

I've added Florida with an animation... Weird.

— Doc Velocity

I think you're spot on. An ancient relief map of Earth.

reply to post by Phage


I've always been interested in the composition of the "Blueberries" I was hoping they would come back as a biological as apposed to a chemical source. Does anybody have any REAL data on their composition?


As per the OP The pic leaves more questions than it answers.

Great find.

reply to post by Phage


Hematite concretions found here on Earth:




[edit on 25-3-2010 by Aggie Man]

Originally posted by Doc Velocity
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/d2e3121c922f.gif[/atsimg]

This may be stranger than we imagine... Look closely at the shapes created by the "blue lichen"... Looks remarkably like North America (sans Florida) and Central America, with Greenland depicted, as well.

I've added Florida with an animation... Weird.

— Doc Velocity

we are close to april first date...........:-)

reply to post by InfaRedMan


How is it that the first pix of this rock were not colored blue?

If you look at the pic in gray scale, it really looks like algae that grows in shallow ponds. As the water dries up, the mud cracks and looks very similar.

Its amazing how the color blue makes thinks look very much inorganic like copper sulphate

Good find OP

My one observation of the pic is at the centre of the object there is a piece of "lichen" with a very long shadow compared to the rest.

Is this because it has grown higher than the rest or because it is growing more independant of the host object??

I am no expert so a constructive answer would be appreciated....thanks.

It's creepy how that crusty layer keeps moving

reply to post by Romantic_Rebel


That is out of the question, if there is life of Mars. It is not similar to two life forms, developing an equilibrium, on Earth-humans could be lethal to alien lifeforms and vice-versa.

It is not as basic, as some think, to land a space craft on Mars and starting constructing outposts straight away. The first colonialists will be on a one way ticket; due to contamination risks and bio-hazard, even a virus, the first pioneers will not be allowed to step foot on Earth if there is a remote risk of poisoning the human race.

Also, the moral dilemma. You don't move into a new home, if the current occupiers still remain on the premises.

Originally posted by Greenize
Also, to my tired eyes, in the first pic, on the "beam of wood", look in the upper right hand corner...looks like a small green plant growing out of the object.

I'm not so sure about the plant but the rock really does look like Petrified wood... I collect the stuff and this is exaclty the type of thing I look for. This isn't the first pic I've seen of a Mars rock that bears a striking resemblance to petrified wood.....

Interesting, to say the least....

reply to post by Anamnesis

There are other finely layered rocks in the area.

Looks like it's sitting in or next to a small puddle of water to me.

reply to post by MysterE


MysterE,

Too me this looks like..............



The continents of Earth before the great divide.

Becker

[edit on 25-3-2010 by Becker44]

Has anyone noticed that the blue stuff is sitting on top of what looks like a square wooden beam? petrified? Looks like the left side has a typical break pattern.

Vid showing the "blueberries"

-E-

[edit on 25-3-2010 by MysterE]

reply to post by Exuberant1


Thanks for posting OP.

That looks more like layered sandstone to me rather than wood.

The blue stuff does indeed look like lichens doesn't it!

Although i suspect it's probably melted 'blueberries' and other fused material from the heat and energy of the impact.

That's a wild number of nuke tests isn't it, and a couple let off in anger of course.

It's not so much the 'bang', it's the fallout that ends up killing more people, although the blast radius will take out huge numbers in a populated area.

Where has all the minute radioactive particulates gone from all these 2000+ nuke tests?

Into the stratosphere, where they have been steadily falling to Earth since and causing global cancer rates to sky-rocket since the first bomb was detonated.

There are some theories that the drive to outlaw smoking and ban tobacco, is because although it is a nasty filthy habit, it causes a viscous, mucous layer to form in the respiratory tracts and lungs of smokers.

This thick gelatinous mucous (hmm...hope you're not having dinner while reading!) is thought by some circles to actually go some way to protecting the smoker, from lung and other cancers caused by inhalation of these microscopic radioactive particles left over from nuclear tests.

Without the 'layer' of goo, these tiny particles easily embed themselves into the inner surfaces of the lungs, trachea and bronchial tubes, stomach, causing cell mutations due to the radioactivity, leading to cancers forming.

The Goo, prevents the tiny buggers, getting a foothold so to speak and they are expelled from the body through the action of cilia (small hairlike projections in the respiratory tract) and coughing etc.

Shame that smoking contributes to a host of other fatal diseases really, or else it would probably be compulsory to smoke...

[edit on 25/3/2010 by spikey]

[edit on 25/3/2010 by spikey]

reply to post by infinite


Agreed.

There are many 'Known unknowns' about potential bacteria and virus, possible spore like material etc. that may well be deadly to humans, as we would have no resistance to them, as we'd never been in contact with them before.

And you're right, we would probably be just as deadly to other organisms too, with the amount of bacteria we carry with us in order to function.

I don't agree about we wouldn't move in if the place was already occupied though, we've done it countless times on Earth, to our own species, i doubt Mars or elsewhere would be any different.