Icebergs and walking on Mars

Giant icebergs on Mars?

Recent research with ESA's Mars Express High Resolution Stereo Camera has shown good evidence for a frozen body of water with pieces breaking off just as icebergs form on Earth.  The ice has probably lasted for a long period of time in the thin atmosphere of Mars because of protection by a thick layer of dust.  The dust could have come from a volcano.  The dust could be frozen together to form a cap on the mass of ice which would both insulate the ice and prevent any more ice from escaping. 

One area that was studied was located at 209.6 W, 5.5 N.  A picture (at 181.51W, 10.83 N) taken by an amateur looks almost like  it.

These pictures show break-up and movement ,including rotation, of large plate-like features.  The alternative explanation for these observations is that  the large masses would actually be solified basalt lava that was broken up after a week or so by new surges of lava.  This idea is rejected for various reasons by the scientists.  One main reason being  that the plates are much older than the area between the plates.  Remember, they should be only a week or two difference in age--but the plates are in fact, older by about a million years.  So the crater dating seems to show that a vast sea froze over, then perhaps a million years later it broke up into plates then shifted.

Relative ages are determined by the number or density of craters.  With this reasoning, the plates have a higher density of craters than the space between them.  The scientists doing this study did actual counts.  I have not yet done counts on the following picture, but there seems to be more craters on the plates.  What do you think?

Lower part of image shows the plates that resemble chunks of ice floating in the sea.  Can you tell how the pieces fit together?

This type of location may be a good place to look for past or present life.

Going for a hike on Mars

All my life I have loved watching science fiction movies and television programs dealing with trips to other planets.  What  most interested me was when the spacemen would land on a planet then go walking around.  What would another world be like I thought.  Now that we have so many great pictures of Mars we can get good answers to how it would be to go walking about on Mars.

A rocketship coming to Earth from another civilization could end up landing in a wide variety of environments--depending on where or when it landed.  It could land in a vast sea, on a huge glacier, on a large field of sand dunes, on a high rugged mountain, in a complex canyon, or in a sea of molted lava.   The same may be true for a spaceship landing on Mars.  Mars once had lots of water, and often had eruptions of lava.  However, any water would quickly freeze due to the super thin atmosphere of Mars. Mars still has glaciers, sand dunes, and canyons.  Actually, the largest volcano, largest field of sand dunes, and largest canyon in the solar system are on Mars.

But, what I am most intersted in is how would it be to go on a 1-2 mile walk on Mars.  We know that some places are flat with a lot of rocks because that is what our Mars landers (2 Vikings, 1 Pathfinder, 2 Rovers) have shown us with their cameras.  However, we always picked bland, boring places to visit since they held the greatest chance of a soft, successful landing.  The next series of pictures show other areas that  may be a great challenge for walking.  Maybe in the distant future earth people will hike these places just as people today hike in the Grand Canyon, the Petrified Desert, or Death Valley.

This picture is about 1 mile wide.  Can you imagine walking across it.  You would be going up and down and around the small features

The picture below is about 2 miles in width.  Imagine walking along the back line--through the canyon and stopping with a mesa at your side.

The image at the right is about 1 mile wide.  Think of the beautiful views you would see as you hiked from the top of the picture to the bottom.  There would be a number of hills or mountains around you as  you hiked up and down some rough terrain.  Near the end of your hike you would be in some canyon lands.

Click here for more pictures.

Revised January 2007