RitcheyRch
09-21-2007, 03:57 PM
Pretty cool news. Wonder if they will find the aliens from Mars Attacks. :D
http://cbs2.com/local/local_story_264163823.html
Jet Propulsion Laboratory-managed orbiter has discovered entrances to seven possible caves on the slopes of a Martian volcano, sparking interest in potential underground "habitats" and fueling interest in searches for caverns elsewhere on the Red Planet, NASA reported.
Very dark, nearly circular features ranging in diameter from about 328 to 820 feet perplexed researchers who found them in images taken by NASA's Mars Odyssey and Mars Global Surveyor orbiters.
Using Mars Odyssey's infrared camera to check the daytime and nighttime temperatures of the circles, scientists concluded that they could be "windows" into underground spaces, NASA reported.
Temperature differences detected from infrared images taken in the afternoon and at pre-dawn may serve as evidence that the holes may cave openings. Between day and night, temperatures of the holes change only about one-third as much as the change in temperature of surrounding ground surface.
"They are cooler than the surrounding surface in the day and warmer at night," said Glen Cushing of the U.S. Geological Survey's Astrogeology Team and Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff.
"Their thermal behavior is not as steady as large caves on Earth that often maintain a fairly constant temperature, but it is consistent with these being deep holes in the ground."
A report of the discovery of the possible cave skylights by Cushing and his co-authors was published online by the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
"Whether these are just deep vertical shafts or openings into spacious caverns, they are entries to the subsurface of Mars," said co-author Tim Titus of the U.S. Geological Survey in Flagstaff. "Somewhere on Mars, caves might provide a protected niche for past or current life, or shelter for humans in the future."
The discovered holes, dubbed "Seven Sisters," are at some of the highest altitudes on the planet, on a volcano named Arsia Mons near Mars' tallest mountain.
"These are at such extreme altitude, they are poor candidates either for use as human habitation or for having microbial life," Cushing said. "Even if life has ever existed on Mars, it may not have migrated to this height."
According to the new report, the deep holes on Arsia Mons may have formed as underground stresses around the volcano caused spreading and faults that opened spaces beneath the surface. Some of the holes are in line with strings of bowl-shaped pits where surface material apparently collapsed to fill the gap created by a linear fault.
The new discoveries have prompted researchers using Mars Odyssey and NASA's newer Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to examine the Seven Sisters. The goal is to find other openings to underground spaces at lower elevations that are more accessible to future missions to Mars.
"The key to finding these was looking for temperature anomalies at night -- warm spots," said Phil Christensen of Arizona State University, principal investigator for the Thermal Emission Imaging System on Mars Odyssey.
That instrument produced both visible-light and infrared images researchers used for examining the possible caves.
"No other instrument at Mars could give the thermal information crucial to this research," said the project scientist for Mars Odyssey, Jeffrey Plaut of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. "This is a great example of the exciting discoveries Odyssey continues to make."
Mars Odyssey reached the red planet in 2001, years before any of the other spacecraft. Its predecessor, Mars Global Surveyor, ended its mission last year.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages Mars Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for the NASA Science Mission Directorate. Arizona State University operates the Mars Odyssey's Thermal Emission Imaging System.
http://cbs2.com/local/local_story_264163823.html
Jet Propulsion Laboratory-managed orbiter has discovered entrances to seven possible caves on the slopes of a Martian volcano, sparking interest in potential underground "habitats" and fueling interest in searches for caverns elsewhere on the Red Planet, NASA reported.
Very dark, nearly circular features ranging in diameter from about 328 to 820 feet perplexed researchers who found them in images taken by NASA's Mars Odyssey and Mars Global Surveyor orbiters.
Using Mars Odyssey's infrared camera to check the daytime and nighttime temperatures of the circles, scientists concluded that they could be "windows" into underground spaces, NASA reported.
Temperature differences detected from infrared images taken in the afternoon and at pre-dawn may serve as evidence that the holes may cave openings. Between day and night, temperatures of the holes change only about one-third as much as the change in temperature of surrounding ground surface.
"They are cooler than the surrounding surface in the day and warmer at night," said Glen Cushing of the U.S. Geological Survey's Astrogeology Team and Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff.
"Their thermal behavior is not as steady as large caves on Earth that often maintain a fairly constant temperature, but it is consistent with these being deep holes in the ground."
A report of the discovery of the possible cave skylights by Cushing and his co-authors was published online by the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
"Whether these are just deep vertical shafts or openings into spacious caverns, they are entries to the subsurface of Mars," said co-author Tim Titus of the U.S. Geological Survey in Flagstaff. "Somewhere on Mars, caves might provide a protected niche for past or current life, or shelter for humans in the future."
The discovered holes, dubbed "Seven Sisters," are at some of the highest altitudes on the planet, on a volcano named Arsia Mons near Mars' tallest mountain.
"These are at such extreme altitude, they are poor candidates either for use as human habitation or for having microbial life," Cushing said. "Even if life has ever existed on Mars, it may not have migrated to this height."
According to the new report, the deep holes on Arsia Mons may have formed as underground stresses around the volcano caused spreading and faults that opened spaces beneath the surface. Some of the holes are in line with strings of bowl-shaped pits where surface material apparently collapsed to fill the gap created by a linear fault.
The new discoveries have prompted researchers using Mars Odyssey and NASA's newer Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to examine the Seven Sisters. The goal is to find other openings to underground spaces at lower elevations that are more accessible to future missions to Mars.
"The key to finding these was looking for temperature anomalies at night -- warm spots," said Phil Christensen of Arizona State University, principal investigator for the Thermal Emission Imaging System on Mars Odyssey.
That instrument produced both visible-light and infrared images researchers used for examining the possible caves.
"No other instrument at Mars could give the thermal information crucial to this research," said the project scientist for Mars Odyssey, Jeffrey Plaut of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. "This is a great example of the exciting discoveries Odyssey continues to make."
Mars Odyssey reached the red planet in 2001, years before any of the other spacecraft. Its predecessor, Mars Global Surveyor, ended its mission last year.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages Mars Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for the NASA Science Mission Directorate. Arizona State University operates the Mars Odyssey's Thermal Emission Imaging System.