Vertebrae! On Curiosity Sol 494.

smurfy
It is interesting alright, reminiscent of a pan loaf. Could be a shattered piece of shale, but still unusual looking.

That was the first thing I thought. It looks like a sliced meat loaf.

I've seen it too, I believe two days back. But the whole area within the photo seems to have strange artifacts . More to the right I thought seeing some ring with holes in it but was difficult to see from that distance. But its really strange those disc shaped things?

reply to post by Wolfenz


If you look at your link again, you will see it is credited to Arken ATS

(NASA gave him a medal for that discovery, or novel description)

reply to post by ArMaP


I know what they don't say but when they do say, "Identify features that may represent the effects of biological processes" it's not hard to visualise some kind of life form as a best case scenario, as well as the components. Same goes for water. The ambiguity of the english language is so often used in this way.
What is near immediately important though, is the measuring of ground radiation for human surviveability.

(Though I thought Buzz Aldrin should have done some measuring for that, when he was on Mars)

Great picture! Thanks for posting that. In my opinion, doesn't look like a vertebrae...not sure what I think it looks like though. Love these pics from mars you find. Love the guys that "know" that they are rocks. LOL Wonder how they know these things? Must be fun going through life thinking you know everything? Some people.

it looks like the backbone of a fish, without the spines to hold the muscle.
which could have been worn off.

i like what looks like a head, near it.

could be a worm type thing?

nice find arken.

Ha ha ha ha ha!!! Thoes aren't bones! That's the loaf of bread I shot up there with a big ol Estes rocket when I was a teenager!

tsingtao
it looks like the backbone of a fish, without the spines to hold the muscle.
which could have been worn off.

i like what looks like a head, near it.

could be a worm type thing?

nice find arken.

Bingo. I am an environmental scientist with a biology and chemistry double major and I have worked in soils with geologist giving free lectures to me about 'parent rock' and soil chemistry as a perk. (air pollution emphasis in my career now). This pic even makes me think i can make out a catfish like head to the left of the 'rocks'. Intriguing for sure. We do see things like this in field activities and it resembles a tire track to some degree but for the fact there is nothing that is similarly shaped nearby. That being so, then I vote a biological item is a reasonable hypothesis.

reply to post by Wolfenz

Interesting !!

even it if was just Rock how the multiple Slices came about ? is the Question if it were ! !
it it does not look like it been broken up by Nature Either...

Something out of the Ordinary for Sure...

Hi Wolfenz, and thanks.

This is exactly the right and scientific approach to this kind of anomalies that NASA/JPL/MSL Team must have. They never forget that their Rover walk on the bed of an Ancient... LAKE.

If they are not so... blind... or so scared...

smurfy
reply to post by ArMaP

 

I know what they don't say but when they do say, "Identify features that may represent the effects of biological processes" it's not hard to visualise some kind of life form as a best case scenario, as well as the components. Same goes for water. The ambiguity of the english language is so often used in this way.
What is near immediately important though, is the measuring of ground radiation for human surviveability.

(Though I thought Buzz Aldrin should have done some measuring for that, when he was on Mars)

edit on 28-12-2013 by smurfy because: Text.

Sharp smurfy! Sharp as usual.

The ambiguity is the law...

reply to post by Arken


Great find Arken! With this and the larger spine you have at least two of the best possible lifeform discoveries on Mars (Richard Hoagland had one years ago, a very tiny shell like creature). By "best" I mean that the explanation of biological form is one of the feasible options in explaining the discovery (and that's what these are, discoveries on Mars).

As with the larger spine, I would like to see university and other academia professionals have a look at this one and give a thoughtful analysis. I suggested to the fellow who is doing the official ATS videos that he take the large spine discovery to various universities for professional comments - and now this one may be a good addition to that. Again, thanks Arken, and when the rover gets into the Buttes, where the material has been a little protected from the wind and complete erosion, I hope your eyes light up like a child at Christmas.

reply to post by Arken


if I was going to describe it I would say plates or scales but not vertebrae

bottleslingguy
reply to post by Arken

 

if I was going to describe it I would say plates or scales but not vertebrae

Probably you are right.

The real problem is that this anomaly feature is extremely odd and unusual even in the weird environment of Mars.

Unusual rock formation?

Biological formation?

Fossilized formation?

NON natural formation?

I think that Who Rule the Rover must investigate about that Anomaly to discover what the hell these things are...

reply to post by Aleister


It's always a pleasure read your posts. Thanks.

Rocks and dirt that is what lies beneath curiosities wheels. Rocks and dirt. That's all the OP ever posts is pictures of rocks and dirt but they always see vertebrae.

AutumnWitch657
Rocks and dirt that is what lies beneath curiosities wheels. Rocks and dirt. That's all the OP ever posts is pictures of rocks and dirt but they always see vertebrae.

Arken seldom sees vertebrae, now twice that I know of, and both are fairly convincing - at least convincing enough to go to professionals for their opinion. This one may not be vertebrae but another "something interesting" that has occurred at some point on Mars and has now been found by Arken.

AutumnWitch657
Rocks and dirt that is what lies beneath curiosities wheels. Rocks and dirt. That's all the OP ever posts is pictures of rocks and dirt but they always see vertebrae.

All the things posted until now may be rocks and dust, but we cannot know what the next is going to be.