Originally posted by Frira
Six pages into comments, and I became impatient, so pardon me if others have posted these:

1. I do not know if the measure tool on Google Earth is calibrated for planet viewing, but the object measures right around 200 meters in length using that tool.
2. Backing off (note how Google Earth altitude is obviously not calibrated for Mars view) gives a better view. The algorithm used to calculate altitude most certainly effects the measurement tool.
3. Other sources have been posted showing the same object as it appears in Google Earth, so we can cease the debate about a Google hoax.
4. We do not have the technology to send men to Mars. If we did, we would not be wasting huge amounts of money on ISS and STS missions, would we?
5. Concerning if we could be looking at a rocket stage which impacted there after delivering a orbital or lander payload (if anyone may have thought of that): any such man-made object would be far too small to show up except perhaps as a bright dot of light.
6. A brief post by some user stated that the same image appears on earth at the same coordinates. No. Neither does that series of pixels show up on the Lunar view. Besides, see item 3, above.
7. A database I found indicating locations of man-made debris on Mars does not show anything near this position. See: Mars debris and lander sites

Size estimate: As I hinted at in the first two items, the altitude provided by Google Earth allows you to zoom in to about a MINUS 17,000 feet-- the apparent "surface" level. No matter what altitude one uses, the object measures right around 200 meters. That suggests to me that the displayed altitude for whatever zoom level one chooses is not a number used to calculate measurement when using the ruler tool.

Google Earth Measurement of object = 200 meters
Mars diameter/radius: 6790/3395 kilometers
Earth diameter/radius: 12670/6335 kilometers

If the algorithm used to calculate measurement is based, not upon altitude, but from arc seconds-- essential calculating from the center of the planet-- then correcting the algorithm (if any is required) may cause us to suspect that the measurement tool is over-estimating the size, because the shortest distance between two lines making up an angle gets greater the farther from the intersection one measures.

So, If Google Earth calculates measurement between two points on Mars based upon degree of separation but, erroneously using Earth's diameter, then it is calculating the distance between two points on an angle about 2940 kilometers beyond the actual (the difference between surface level of earth and of Mars if those imaginary surfaces were calculated from the same central point). The actual length of object can be determined by cross multiplication as: 200/6335 = x/3395; thus x = ~107 meters.

Conclusion (unless someone has more data): We are not looking at anything man-made. I do not believe we have sent even a booster of near that length. 100 meters would be typical of a booster needed to escape earth's gravity, but a trans-Mars stage would not be so large, would it?

First I took the actual photo and roughly drew a pattern of objects similar to various proposed lunar and martian living habitats.

Originally posted by Phage
For those who seem to have not bothered (it helps to follow the thread).

The source image which Google used is from ESA's Mars Express orbiter, using the high resolution stereo camera. The image ID: H5620_0000_ND2

You can find it here:
HRSC viewer

If you want to download the full image you can get it here:
psa.esac.esa.int...
It is large, 355 MB. You will need a viewer to decode the image. You can get that here:
pds.nasa.gov...

This is what it looks like at full native resolution:

This is what it looks like zoomed 300%

It is obviously an image artifact in the source image. Note the one pixel spacing. Note that the pixels are in a horizontal line across the image.

edit on 6/2/2011 by Phage because: (no reason given)

edit on 6/2/2011 by Phage because: (no reason given)

edit on 6/2/2011 by Phage because: (no reason given)