That, however, does not mean that life wasn't - or isn't - present. Although there is no conclusive evidence for life on Mars, there are some tantalizing photos sent back from the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) and other probes that might show Martian life forms, and other photos that could depict evidence of intelligent life!
This photo, taken by the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) look quite like aerial photos of an Earth desert dotted with shrub growth. But these sand dunes are in the southern hemisphere of Mars. A Hungarian research team, which has been analyzing the photos (and other photos of the same area over time), has concluded that the black dots are indeed living organisms.
"Each spring," writes David Leonard in an article for Space.com, "[the Hungarians] report, 'gray fuzzy spots' appear in the bottom of the ice cover. By the middle of the first half of spring, these spots become darker, are bounded, and grow in size. By early summer defrosting, the naked dark soil of the dune is visible, and surrounded by a lighter ring. Year by year, the dark dune spots 'renew' on the same place with almost the same configuration, or 'constellation' of patches. This repeat action, the team asserts, strengthens their suggestion of fixed, biological causes of spot formation."
The Hungarian scientists conclude that this strongly suggests the life cycle of some kind of plant life.
NASA and its associated research teams don't agree with this conclusion. Their theory is that the dark spots are "the result of springtime defrosting process on Mars, not signs of biology." A somewhat less dismissive opinion from Bruce Jakosky, a Mars researcher at the University of Colorado in Boulder, states that the conclusion for Martian biology is "premature... when other, simpler processes have not been ruled out."
These are, without a doubt, the most fascinating objects yet photographed on the surface of Mars. They look like long translucent tubes supported by rows of bright arches. "A lot of people have seen these strange structures and have tried to speculate as to what they might be," says Jeffrey McCann at The Research Abyss. "Some would say these are huge water ducts funneling water from one area to another, others are firm in thinking that these are some sort of natural geological anomaly only occurring on Mars."
McCann and Joseph P. Skipper, both researchers into Martian anomalies, call this image"the real smoking gun as to life on Mars." The image was discovered in June, 2000 among the many images posted at Malin Space Science Systems, which has tens of thousands of Mars pictures available for online viewing and examination.
"These structures are actually in excellent condition," says Skipper in an article titledDissecting The Mars 'Tubes' Anomaly, "where other antiquity anomalies on Mars are heavily eroded, allowing endless debate as to what they truly are, natural or constructs. Note their general uniformity and the uniform spacing of the bands or ridges. Note how one structure here clearly attaches to another and note the shiny round terminating end at the junction point clearly defining it as a constructed hard object as opposed to a natural geological formation of some kind. Note how at least one or more bands/ridges span around both structures tying them together at the junction point clearly demonstrating construction technique. Note the apparent translucent composition of these structures and how entirely alien they clearly are to the geology and topography they are embedded in. There can be no question that these are constructs of some kind. But, made by what or who and for what purpose?"
At Richard Hoagland's Enterprise Mission, Sir Arthur C. Clarke (author of 2001: A Space Odyssey) is quoted as remarking about the tubes: "I'm still waiting for an explanation of that extraordinary glass worm on... [Mars]... How big is it? It's one of the most incredible images that's ever come from space and there have been no [official] comments on it whatsoever!"
This intriguing photos is the so-called "port," which has been examined in some detail at Mars Unearthed (no longer online).
This highly geometric structure, appearing on a Martian cliffside, looks like an artificially constructed two-story building of some unknown purpose. In the opinion of the article, "the first floor walls of [the port] are facing camera and in shadow. The second floor is a well-defined square and is turned at a precise 45-degree angle to the first floor. Centered in the midst of the roof of that squared second floor is an abrupt, sharp circle... a 'landing pad' as for helicopters atop tall buildings and on decks of ships."
Near this structure, the article continues, is a large, open, U-shaped culvert or conduit out of which is flowing a great deal of liquid.
"The Tower" seems to show a tall tower or stack with a white tip casting a long shadow. If it is indeed a tower of some kind, it stands at an incredible 6.3 kilometers high - 12 times taller than the largest skyscraper on Earth.
Could these "structures" be optical illusions of natural geological formations? Of course. But to dismiss them outright as not possibly being artificial in origin is just as unscientific as declaring that they absolutely are created by intelligent beings. The suggestion that they are artificial is such a large claim, however, that these images should be examined carefully and with skepticism - but with an open mind. These images of seemingly artificial structures could dissolve into natural formations with more detailed, higher resolution photographs - just as, by most examinations, the so-called "Face on Mars" has resolved into a large mesa.
On February 14, 2001, an international group of nine 10- 15-year-old boys and girls were invited by NASA to direct the camera aboard the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS). When these kids took the controls of the camera, they picked up an image of an anomaly that has scientists puzzled. This picture shows a scattering of large, dark boulders in the middle of a relatively flat, light-colored plain. The puzzle is: Where did they come from? There are no mountains or large hills that the boulders could have broken off from. And their color is in sharp contrast to anything in the surrounding area.
"It's puzzling," said Michael Carr of the US Geological Survey. "I looked at a few pictures around [the area] and couldn't find anything to explain it. Very puzzling! These are huge boulders. There are no indications of any outcrops that could shed such boulders."
How huge are they? It is estimated that they are between 50 and 80 feet in diameter! Those are big rocks! "Wow! These have me totally stumped," commented Ron Greeley of Arizona State University. "Not only is the dark color of the boulders a surprise, but they appear totally out of context in the surrounding terrain. There is nothing in the rest of the image to suggest a source for such large boulders, nor their arrangement on the surface."
One proposed theory is that the boulders are the remains of a meteor that shattered on impact. Yet there is no impact crater; the meteor would have had to have been moving quite slowly to make no crater and keep its fragments in such a close grouping. The meteor theory is highly unlikely. Planetary scientists have yet to come up with a plausible, satisfactory explanation for the boulders.
The Cydonia region of Mars seems to be chock full of weird anomalous structures. Southwest of the infamous "face" is a group of features that have been called "pyramids" (above right). With their relatively smooth, triangular sides, they bear a striking resemblance from the air to the pyramids at Giza, Egypt (above left).
One of the most closely studied is the so-called D&M pyramid. According to researcher Mark Carlotto, "the three illuminated faces of the D&M appear to be relatively flat with well defined edges in between. Buttress like structures at the base of several edges are also evident. In the MGS image the edge between the northeast and northwest faces resembles a spine running from the apex of the D&M down to the ground. At the base of the spine lies a circular depression, possibly an opening. A dark feature seems to emanate northward from this depression or opening, which then leads into a sinuous channel off to the right."
Carlotto also has examined "the City Pyramid," a five-sided structure whose spines "resemble the five pointed Egyptian symbol for a star." In the most high-resolution photos of these structures taken by MGS, the pyramids look somewhat less pyramid-like, but their geometric shapes are still intriguing.
Here is one of the most peculiar craters on Mars. Taken by the Mars Global Surveyor, the photo clearly shows an ordinary-looking crater with something extraordinary-looking inside it. Off-center is a dome-like structure, nearly perfectly spherical, that appears to have a golf ball-like texture... or that of a Buckminster Fuller geodesic construction.
More intriguing, this dome stands very near what looks like a system of tunnels or conduitsthat run above and below the Martian surface. Small tunnels seem to connect to large tunnels, like some kind of enormous drainage system
This photo of a mysterious object on the surface of Mars was snapped by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter from 165 miles up. It appears to show a free-standing geometric block of undetermined height. It immediately brings to mind, of course, the alien-created monolith from the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. But is this object artificial?
A scientist from the University of Arizona is quoted as saying, "In reality it's more likely that this boulder has been created by breaking away from the bedrock to create a rectangular-shaped feature." If so, where is the bedrock from which it has been broken? Where is the stone that fractured off to create this shape? The object seems to be standing quite on its own on a plain of soil. We cannot say it is an artificial creation, of course, but we can add it to the growing list of peculiar Martian anomalies.
Sir Charles W. Shults III, in his A Fossil Hunter's Guide to Mars, has unearthed (unmarsed?) several photos taken by the Spirit rover of objects on the surface of Mars that look very much like terrestrial seashells. One of them is shown here compared to an Earth seashell (inset). It appears to have a thin structure and a spiraling shape. If they are rocks, they are mighty peculiar rocks
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