Interesting microscopic(?) artefact in NASA Mars Photograph (Sol 3720)

[MorningFox]

Just stumbled across this photograph from NASA. I don't have any info on it but it's interesting...

I wonder if Buares or one of our other resident investigators can shed any light on this one?

(middle right)


Source: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer/gallery...3720_text.html

[Flowerpunkchip]

My guess, it's an indentation (footprint) of the machine which took the photo.

Of course, I really hope I'm wrong. Especially when the Rover is on rollers.

[Matt P]

Well of course it's interesting but when I see comments with NASA as the source I don't know whether to or
Absolutely nothing from NASA can be trusted. They are a military agency. I want to like and investigate the photo but then I stop and remind myself where it's from. There is no way to trust it's genuine. I can't have a debate with my (literally) crazy Aunt for the same reason. You can't debate crazy.
So, I'll just

[Jake]

This is interesting....


The same sort of thing was found in Iceland....

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=yjHcNoHzj30

Jake.

[Sidney]

My first thought (besides the imprint) is that, that looks a lot like old dried up blacktop

[DarMar]

well .. i personally didn't seen anything from nasa which would be even close to credible photo.
Being said that, all of stuff that comes from them are cartoons and renderings including this one.

[Hervé]

Try a print of these (the screw head itself rather than the drive) in sand/plasticine/wax/putty and compare:

Torq-set

A set of torq-set bits

Torq-set is a cruciform screw drive used in torque-sensitive applications.[38] The Torq-set head is similar in appearance to a Phillips drive in that it has a cross with 4 arms. In Torq-set however, the lines are offset from each other, so they do not align to form intersecting slots across the top of the head. Because of this, a regular Phillips or flat-blade screwdriver will not fit the head. It is used in aerospace applications, e.g., the B-2 stealth bomber.[38] Phillips Screw Company owns the name and produces the fasteners.

The applicable standards that govern the Torq-set geometry are National Aerospace Standard NASM 33781 and NASM 14191 for the ribbed version. The ribbed version is also known as ACR Torq-set.[39]

[Ellisa]

It's an Allen Key--- IKEA is on Mars!

[Chilliburger]

Here's my two cents

[Jake]

I think that I rather agree with mpennery,, Lots of NASA stuff has been shown to be pretty goofy... For the sake of brainstorming this pic,,

Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT)

The Rock Abrasion Tool is a powerful grinder, able to create a hole 45 millimeters (about 2 inches) in diameter and 5 millimeters (0.2 inches) deep into a rock on the Martian surface.

The RAT is located on the arm of the rover and weighs less than 720 grams (about 1.6 lbs). It uses three electric motors to drive rotating grinding teeth into the surface of a rock. Two grinding wheels rotate at high speeds. These wheels also rotate around each other at a much slower speed so that the two grinding wheels sweep the entire cutting area. The RAT is able to grind through hard volcanic rock in about two hours.

Once a fresh surface is exposed, scientists can examine the abraded area in detail using the rover's other science instruments. image of examle of grinding into a surface by the RAT This means that the interior of a rock may be very different from its exterior. That difference is important to scientists as it may reveal how the rock was formed and the environmental conditions in which it was altered. A rock sitting on the surface of Mars may become covered with dust and will weather, or change in chemical composition from contact with the atmosphere.

Here a couple examples of the marks that the mars RAT leaves.







Who knows, maybe there are different drilling head designs for different applicatons. That seems logical.. Sorry for the huge pics...


Jake.

[Flash]

Went to a conference panel at McGill University and one of the panelist was a scientist working for JPL and NASA. He said that Mars was filled with water aons sgo, that there minght still be ice and running water in thecdeep underground and therefore life. To find life on the surface was much harder because it neededarcheological digging. But life on Mars was flourishing in the far away past. I hAve no doubt that they have been told to start talking about extra terrestrial life.

Then , another panelist was saying that a few moons of Saturn and Jupiter had lots of water and potential life and that they only needed to find microbial life somewhere out there to extrapolate that life is aboundant.

Then there was someone else from SETI saying that they were now looking for luminous technological signals to try finding intelligent life in space and that they had for years of data that had not been analysed yet.

Telling you here , they are getting ready for disclosure in a step by step fashion. So some pic from Mars may start being
The real deal. Lol

[Jake]

Posted by Flash (here)
Went to a conference panel at McGill University and one of the panelist was a scientist working for JPL and NASA. He said that Mars was filled with water aons sgo, that there minght still be ice and running water in thecdeep underground and therefore life. To find life on the surface was much harder because it neededarcheological digging. But life on Mars was flourishing in the far away past. I hAve no doubt that they have been told to start talking about extra terrestrial life.

Then , another panelist was saying that a few moons of Saturn and Jupiter had lots of water and potential life and that they only needed to find microbial life somewhere out there to extrapolate that life is aboundant.

Then there was someone else from SETI saying that they were now looking for luminous technological signals to try finding intelligent life in space and that they had for years of data that had not been analysed yet.

Telling you here , they are getting ready for disclosure in a step by step fashion. So some pic from Mars may start being
The real deal. Lol

Indeed,, if these are RAT marks from the Rover, they would be 2 inches wide. If they are microscopic, then they are not from the RAT...

Jake.

[Jake]

Here are some examples of bacteria shapes..






Marshall Spaceflight Center - In a study published [Mar.2011] in The Journal of Cosmology Dr Richard Hoover, a highly respected NASA scientist working out of the Marshall Spaceflight Center, claims he has found fossilized bacteria inside three meteorites. If confirmed the discovery would sugest that life is widespread in the universe riding commets and asteroids to planets throughout the Solar System.

The study [Genetics Indicates Extraterrestrial Origins for Life:
The First Gene] claimes that a bacteria similar to blue green algee was found insode all three meteorites.




Here are some examples of microscopic phytoplankton... If they were fossilized then they may look similar. There are almost 12,000.00 species on earth... There is really no logical reason to think that there is/was no life on Mars. IMHO...


- Phylum Bacillariophyta (Diatoms)
Photosynthetic
Freshwater and marine; large component of phytoplankton
Cell walls are two valves with silica; overlap at the girdle
Abundant fossils (diatomaceous earth)
~ 11,500 species
Reproduction mostly by fission


Who knows what shape phytoplankton have taken on Mars???
Jake.

[Atlas]

Yep, well done people. Here it is, debunked:



https://twitter.com/ufoofinterest/st...765249/photo/1

[Jake]

Ha! Very well played... Very cool, too. I was about to go bonkers... lol....

Jake.

[MorningFox]

That thing touches the ground does it?

[Atlas]

Yes it does:

Posted by NASA
Sol 1145 (April 14, 2007): [...] the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer was placed on the soil target Alicante.

[...] Sol 1148: [...] the Mössbauer spectrometer was commanded to touch the soil and the microscopic imager took pictures. (source)

By the way, here is what NASA wrote about the mysterious photo you posted:

Posted by NASA
The one sol of in-situ (contact) science was the first sol of a two-sol autonomous 'touch 'n go' where the rover used the robotic arm (the 'touch') on Sol 3720 (July 11, 2014), to collect a Microscopic Imager mosaic of the surface target 'Trebia,' followed by an overnight contact integration measurement performed by the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS). (source)

The Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS)


The Mössbauer spectrometer

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer/gallery...20040202a.html

[MorningFox]

Thanks Buares. I had a feeling you might solve this one

[Atlas]

Thanks MorningFox, the first logical explanations came from Flowerpunkchip and Amzer Zo:

Posted by Flowerpunkchip (here)
My guess, it's an indentation (footprint) of the machine which took the photo.

Of course, I really hope I'm wrong. Especially when the Rover is on rollers.

Posted by Amzer Zo (here)
Try a print of these (the screw head itself rather than the drive) in sand/plasticine/wax/putty and compare:

Torq-set

A set of torq-set bits

Torq-set is a cruciform screw drive used in torque-sensitive applications.[38] The Torq-set head is similar in appearance to a Phillips drive in that it has a cross with 4 arms. In Torq-set however, the lines are offset from each other, so they do not align to form intersecting slots across the top of the head. Because of this, a regular Phillips or flat-blade screwdriver will not fit the head. It is used in aerospace applications, e.g., the B-2 stealth bomber.[38] Phillips Screw Company owns the name and produces the fasteners.

The applicable standards that govern the Torq-set geometry are National Aerospace Standard NASM 33781 and NASM 14191 for the ribbed version. The ribbed version is also known as ACR Torq-set.[39]

And Jake was very close with the RAT:

Posted by Jake (here)
I think that I rather agree with mpennery,, Lots of NASA stuff has been shown to be pretty goofy... For the sake of brainstorming this pic,,

Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT)

The Rock Abrasion Tool is a powerful grinder, able to create a hole 45 millimeters (about 2 inches) in diameter and 5 millimeters (0.2 inches) deep into a rock on the Martian surface.

The RAT is located on the arm of the rover and weighs less than 720 grams (about 1.6 lbs). It uses three electric motors to drive rotating grinding teeth into the surface of a rock. Two grinding wheels rotate at high speeds. These wheels also rotate around each other at a much slower speed so that the two grinding wheels sweep the entire cutting area. The RAT is able to grind through hard volcanic rock in about two hours.

Once a fresh surface is exposed, scientists can examine the abraded area in detail using the rover's other science instruments. image of examle of grinding into a surface by the RAT This means that the interior of a rock may be very different from its exterior. That difference is important to scientists as it may reveal how the rock was formed and the environmental conditions in which it was altered. A rock sitting on the surface of Mars may become covered with dust and will weather, or change in chemical composition from contact with the atmosphere.

Here a couple examples of the marks that the mars RAT leaves.





Who knows, maybe there are different drilling head designs for different applicatons. That seems logical.. Sorry for the huge pics...


Jake.

[KaiLee]

Im not one to get excited over off planet pictures. All too often ones imagination is the major requirement in discerning the item being proposed to be seen in the picture.

This however, is stunning. It is clear and obvious.



http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer/gallery...P2955M2M1.HTML