Jump to content

Intelligent alien life may have repeatedly evolved billions of years ago and they might be visiting Earth and Mars


USH

Recommended Posts

Below is an extract from a research paper written by a biology professor from the University of Oklahoma, a Smithsonian staff member, and a cosmology professor and it was recently published in Journal of Astrophysics and Aerospace Technology. 

skulls%20skeleton.jpg

Anatomically “modern” humans appeared on this planet less than 50,000 years ago. But intelligent extraterrestrial life may have repeatedly evolved billions of years ago that might be the technological and scientific accomplishments of “humans” and intelligent non-human “beings” that evolved on Earth-like planets billions of years before our solar system was formed? For thousands of years there have been reports of extraterrestrial beings and “sky boats” that have visited Earth as recounted in ancient texts from India, Egypt, and Greece. They might appear to us as “gods” and they might be visiting Earth and Mars. 

bone.jpg

The implications are that similar forms of life have evolved on other planets and that intelligent extraterrestrials have evolved on worlds billions of years older than our own. 

flying%20ufos%20orbs.jpg

We provide a sample of official NASA Mars photographs above and below of what appears to be wreckage and debris from extraterrestrial spacecraft, partially buried bones, the body of a humanoid, humanoid skulls and UAPs/UFOs photographed in the skies and above surface of Mars but it must be cautioned, however, that without direct and detailed examination, it is impossible to determine with absolute certainty if these “anomalies” are extraterrestrial in origin. 

ufo%20parts%201.jpg

So far, government agencies refuse to acknowledge any evidence for extraterrestrial life, be it UAPs or fungi on Mars and with the creation of the quasi-military National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) it became official policy to denounce, ridicule and suppress any and all reports of extraterrestrial life, including fossils of fungi and bacteria in meteors and all evidence of algae, lichens, fungi and biological activity on Mars. 

ufo%20parts%202.jpg

Why has the “Pentagon” and the quasi-military NASA gone to such extraordinary extremes to deny and suppress all evidence of extraterrestrial life? Possibly, they fear if they admit there is life on Mars and UAPs are extraterrestrial, the implications are that life must be pervasive throughout this galaxy and intelligent life evolved on innumerable worlds; and this would explain why there have been tens of thousands of reports of UFOs visiting this planet. Perhaps they fear if they were to admit and acknowledge the veracity of this vast body of evidence that religious and government authority would be undermined. 

Perhaps this explains why NASA and the U.S. Defense Dept. have engaged in what some members of the U.S. congress and a few media outlets have called a “coverup”. 

Read the in-depth report submitted on 7/30/23 and revised on 8/8, 11/23 including more photos at: file:///C:/Users/USER/Downloads/MarsHumanoidsUAPsFINAL.pdf

View the full article

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Similar Topics

    • By NASA
      4 min read
      Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
      The mystery of why life uses molecules with specific orientations has deepened with a NASA-funded discovery that RNA — a key molecule thought to have potentially held the instructions for life before DNA emerged — can favor making the building blocks of proteins in either the left-hand or the right-hand orientation. Resolving this mystery could provide clues to the origin of life. The findings appear in research recently published in Nature Communications.
      Proteins are the workhorse molecules of life, used in everything from structures like hair to enzymes (catalysts that speed up or regulate chemical reactions). Just as the 26 letters of the alphabet are arranged in limitless combinations to make words, life uses 20 different amino acid building blocks in a huge variety of arrangements to make millions of different proteins. Some amino acid molecules can be built in two ways, such that mirror-image versions exist, like your hands, and life uses the left-handed variety of these amino acids. Although life based on right-handed amino acids would presumably work fine, the two mirror images are rarely mixed in biology, a characteristic of life called homochirality. It is a mystery to scientists why life chose the left-handed variety over the right-handed one.
      A diagram of left-handed and right-handed versions of the amino acid isovaline, found in the Murchison meteorite.NASA DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is the molecule that holds the instructions for building and running a living organism. However, DNA is complex and specialized; it “subcontracts” the work of reading the instructions to RNA (ribonucleic acid) molecules and building proteins to ribosome molecules. DNA’s specialization and complexity lead scientists to think that something simpler should have preceded it billions of years ago during the early evolution of life. A leading candidate for this is RNA, which can both store genetic information and build proteins. The hypothesis that RNA may have preceded DNA is called the “RNA world” hypothesis.
      If the RNA world proposition is correct, then perhaps something about RNA caused it to favor building left-handed proteins over right-handed ones. However, the new work did not support this idea, deepening the mystery of why life went with left-handed proteins.
      The experiment tested RNA molecules that act like enzymes to build proteins, called ribozymes. “The experiment demonstrated that ribozymes can favor either left- or right-handed amino acids, indicating that RNA worlds, in general, would not necessarily have a strong bias for the form of amino acids we observe in biology now,” said Irene Chen, of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Samueli School of Engineering, corresponding author of the Nature Communications paper.
      In the experiment, the researchers simulated what could have been early-Earth conditions of the RNA world. They incubated a solution containing ribozymes and amino acid precursors to see the relative percentages of the right-handed and left-handed amino acid, phenylalanine, that it would help produce. They tested 15 different ribozyme combinations and found that ribozymes can favor either left-handed or right-handed amino acids. This suggested that RNA did not initially have a predisposed chemical bias for one form of amino acids. This lack of preference challenges the notion that early life was predisposed to select left-handed-amino acids, which dominate in modern proteins.
      “The findings suggest that life’s eventual homochirality might not be a result of chemical determinism but could have emerged through later evolutionary pressures,” said co-author Alberto Vázquez-Salazar, a UCLA postdoctoral scholar and member of Chen’s research group.
      Earth’s prebiotic history lies beyond the oldest part of the fossil record, which has been erased by plate tectonics, the slow churning of Earth’s crust. During that time, the planet was likely bombarded by asteroids, which may have delivered some of life’s building blocks, such as amino acids. In parallel to chemical experiments, other origin-of-life researchers have been looking at molecular evidence from meteorites and asteroids.
      “Understanding the chemical properties of life helps us know what to look for in our search for life across the solar system,” said co-author Jason Dworkin, senior scientist for astrobiology at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and director of Goddard’s Astrobiology Analytical Laboratory.
      Dworkin is the project scientist on NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission, which extracted samples from the asteroid Bennu and delivered them to Earth last year for further study.
      “We are analyzing OSIRIS-REx samples for the chirality (handedness) of individual amino acids, and in the future, samples from Mars will also be tested in laboratories for evidence of life including ribozymes and proteins,” said Dworkin.
      The research was supported by grants from NASA, the Simons Foundation Collaboration on the Origin of Life, and the National Science Foundation. Vázquez-Salazar acknowledges support through the NASA Postdoctoral Program, which is administered by Oak Ridge Associated Universities under contract with NASA.
      Share
      Details
      Last Updated Nov 21, 2024 EditorWilliam SteigerwaldContactNancy N. Jonesnancy.n.jones@nasa.govLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
      Astrobiology Explore More
      2 min read NASA-Funded Study Examines Tidal Effects on Planet and Moon Interiors
      NASA-supported scientists have developed a method to compute how tides affect the interiors of planets…
      Article 2 weeks ago 2 min read NASA’s New Edition of Graphic Novel Features Europa Clipper
      NASA has released a new edition of Issue 4 of the Astrobiology Graphic History series.…
      Article 3 weeks ago 4 min read NASA’s Perseverance Captures ‘Googly Eye’ During Solar Eclipse
      Article 3 weeks ago View the full article
    • By NASA
      Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio Mosaics More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions The Solar System The Sun Mercury Venus Earth The Moon Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto & Dwarf Planets Asteroids, Comets & Meteors The Kuiper Belt The Oort Cloud 3 min read
      Sols 4368-4369: The Colors of Fall – and Mars
      This image shows all the textures — no color in ChemCam remote-imager images, though — that the Martian terrain has to offer. This image was taken by Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) aboard NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity on Nov. 18, 2024 — sol 4367, or Martian day 4,367 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 02:55:09 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL Earth planning date: Monday, Nov. 18, 2024
      I am in the U.K., where we are approaching the time when trees are just branches and twigs. One tree that still has its full foliage is my little quince tree in my front garden. Its leaves have turned reddish-brown with a hint of orange, fairly dark by now, and when I passed it this afternoon on my way to my Mars operations shift, I thought that these leaves have exactly the colors of Mars! And sure enough, today’s workspace is full of bedrock blocks in the beautiful reddish-brown that we love from Mars. But like that tree, it’s not just one color, but many different versions and patterns, all of many reddish-brown and yellowish-brown colors.
      The tree theme continues into the naming of our targets today, with ChemCam observing the target “Big Oak Flat,” which is a flat piece of bedrock with a slightly more gray hue to it. “Calaveras,” in contrast, looks a lot more like my little tree, as it is more reddish and less gray. It’s also a bedrock target, and APXS and MAHLI are observing this target, too. APXS has another bedrock target, called “Murphys” on one of the many bedrock pieces around. MAHLI is of course documenting Murphys, too. Let’s just hope that this target name doesn’t get any additions to it but instead returns perfect data from Mars!
      ChemCam is taking several long-distance remote micro-imager images — one on the Gediz Vallis Ridge, and one on target “Mono Lake,” which is also looking at the many, many different textures and stones in our surroundings. The more rocks, the more excited a team of geologists gets! So, we are surely using every opportunity to take images here!
      Talking about images… Mastcam is taking documentation images on the Big Oak Flat and Calaveras targets, and a target simply called “trough.” In addition, there are mosaics on “Basket Dome” and “Chilkoot,” amounting to quite a few images of this diverse and interesting terrain! More images will be taken by the navigation cameras for the next drive — and also our Hazcam. We rarely talk about the Hazcams, but they are vital to our mission! They look out from just under the rover belly, forward and backward, and have the important task to keep our rover safe. The forward-looking one is also great for planning purposes, to know where the arm can reach with APXS, MAHLI, and the drill. To me, it’s also one of the most striking perspectives, and shows the grandeur of the landscape so well. If you want to see what I am talking about, have a look at “A Day on Mars” from January of this year.
      Of course, we have atmospheric measurements in the plan, too. The REMS sensor is measuring temperature and wind throughout the plan, and Curiosity will be taking observations to search for dust devils, and look at the opacity of the atmosphere. Add DAN to the plan, and it is once again a busy day for Curiosity on the beautifully red and brown Mars. And — hot off the press — all about another color on Mars: yellowish-white!
      Written by Susanne Schwenzer, Planetary Geologist at The Open University
      Share








      Details
      Last Updated Nov 20, 2024 Related Terms
      Blogs Explore More
      3 min read Sols 4366–4367: One of Those Days on Mars (Sulfate-Bearing Unit to the West of Upper Gediz Vallis)


      Article


      2 days ago
      2 min read Sols 4362-4363: Plates and Polygons


      Article


      1 week ago
      3 min read Peculiar Pale Pebbles
      During its recent exploration of the crater rim, Perseverance diverted to explore a strange, scattered…


      Article


      1 week ago
      Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA
      Mars


      Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, and the seventh largest. It’s the only planet we know of inhabited…


      All Mars Resources


      Explore this collection of Mars images, videos, resources, PDFs, and toolkits. Discover valuable content designed to inform, educate, and inspire,…


      Rover Basics


      Each robotic explorer sent to the Red Planet has its own unique capabilities driven by science. Many attributes of a…


      Mars Exploration: Science Goals


      The key to understanding the past, present or future potential for life on Mars can be found in NASA’s four…

      View the full article
    • By NASA
      5 min read
      Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
      A prototype of a robot designed to explore subsurface oceans of icy moons is reflected in the water’s surface during a pool test at Caltech in September. Conducted by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the testing showed the feasibility of a mission concept for a swarm of mini swimming robots.NASA/JPL-Caltech In a competition swimming pool, engineers tested prototypes for a futuristic mission concept: a swarm of underwater robots that could look for signs of life on ocean worlds.
      When NASA’s Europa Clipper reaches its destination in 2030, the spacecraft will prepare to aim an array of powerful science instruments toward Jupiter’s moon Europa during 49 flybys, looking for signs that the ocean beneath the moon’s icy crust could sustain life. While the spacecraft, which launched Oct. 14, carries the most advanced science hardware NASA has ever sent to the outer solar system, teams are already developing the next generation of robotic concepts that could potentially plunge into the watery depths of Europa and other ocean worlds, taking the science even further.
      This is where an ocean-exploration mission concept called SWIM comes in. Short for Sensing With Independent Micro-swimmers, the project envisions a swarm of dozens of self-propelled, cellphone-size swimming robots that, once delivered to a subsurface ocean by an ice-melting cryobot, would zoom off, looking for chemical and temperature signals that could indicate life.
      Dive into underwater robotics testing with NASA’s futuristic SWIM (Sensing With Independent Micro-swimmers) concept for a swarm of miniature robots to explore subsurface oceans on icy worlds, and see a JPL team testing a prototype at a pool at Caltech in Pasadena, California, in September 2024. NASA/JPL-Caltech “People might ask, why is NASA developing an underwater robot for space exploration? It’s because there are places we want to go in the solar system to look for life, and we think life needs water. So we need robots that can explore those environments — autonomously, hundreds of millions of miles from home,” said Ethan Schaler, principal investigator for SWIM at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
      Under development at JPL, a series of prototypes for the SWIM concept recently braved the waters of a 25-yard (23-meter) competition swimming pool at Caltech in Pasadena for testing. The results were encouraging.
      SWIM Practice
      The SWIM team’s latest iteration is a 3D-printed plastic prototype that relies on low-cost, commercially made motors and electronics. Pushed along by two propellers, with four flaps for steering, the prototype demonstrated controlled maneuvering, the ability to stay on and correct its course, and a back-and-forth “lawnmower” exploration pattern. It managed all of this autonomously, without the team’s direct intervention. The robot even spelled out “J-P-L.”
      Just in case the robot needed rescuing, it was attached to a fishing line, and an engineer toting a fishing rod trotted alongside the pool during each test. Nearby, a colleague reviewed the robot’s actions and sensor data on a laptop. The team completed more than 20 rounds of testing various prototypes at the pool and in a pair of tanks at JPL.
      “It’s awesome to build a robot from scratch and see it successfully operate in a relevant environment,” Schaler said. “Underwater robots in general are very hard, and this is just the first in a series of designs we’d have to work through to prepare for a trip to an ocean world. But it’s proof that we can build these robots with the necessary capabilities and begin to understand what challenges they would face on a subsurface mission.”
      Swarm Science
      A model of the final envisioned SWIM robot, right, sits beside a capsule holding an ocean-composition sensor. The sensor was tested on an Alaskan glacier in July 2023 through a JPL-led project called ORCAA (Ocean Worlds Reconnaissance and Characterization of Astrobiological Analogs). The wedge-shaped prototype used in most of the pool tests was about 16.5 inches (42 centimeters) long, weighing 5 pounds (2.3 kilograms). As conceived for spaceflight, the robots would have dimensions about three times smaller — tiny compared to existing remotely operated and autonomous underwater scientific vehicles. The palm-size swimmers would feature miniaturized, purpose-built parts and employ a novel wireless underwater acoustic communication system for transmitting data and triangulating their positions.
      Digital versions of these little robots got their own test, not in a pool but in a computer simulation. In an environment with the same pressure and gravity they would likely encounter on Europa, a virtual swarm of 5-inch-long (12-centimeter-long) robots repeatedly went looking for potential signs of life. The computer simulations helped determine the limits of the robots’ abilities to collect science data in an unknown environment, and they led to the development of algorithms that would enable the swarm to explore more efficiently.
      The simulations also helped the team better understand how to maximize science return while accounting for tradeoffs between battery life (up to two hours), the volume of water the swimmers could explore (about 3 million cubic feet, or 86,000 cubic meters), and the number of robots in a single swarm (a dozen, sent in four to five waves).
      In addition, a team of collaborators at Georgia Tech in Atlanta fabricated and tested an ocean composition sensor that would enable each robot to simultaneously measure temperature, pressure, acidity or alkalinity, conductivity, and chemical makeup. Just a few millimeters square, the chip is the first to combine all those sensors in one tiny package.
      Of course, such an advanced concept would require several more years of work, among other things, to be ready for a possible future flight mission to an icy moon. In the meantime, Schaler imagines SWIM robots potentially being further developed to do science work right here at home: supporting oceanographic research or taking critical measurements underneath polar ice.
      More About SWIM
      Caltech manages JPL for NASA. JPL’s SWIM project was supported by Phase I and II funding from NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program under the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. The program nurtures visionary ideas for space exploration and aerospace by funding early-stage studies to evaluate technologies that could transform future NASA missions. Researchers across U.S. government, industry, and academia can submit proposals.
      How the SWIM concept was developed Learn about underwater robots for Antarctic climate science See NASA’s network of ready-to-roll mini-Moon rovers News Media Contact
      Melissa Pamer
      Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
      626-314-4928
      melissa.pamer@jpl.nasa.gov
      2024-162
      Share
      Details
      Last Updated Nov 20, 2024 Related Terms
      Europa Jet Propulsion Laboratory NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Program Ocean Worlds Robotics Space Technology Mission Directorate Technology Explore More
      5 min read Making Mars’ Moons: Supercomputers Offer ‘Disruptive’ New Explanation
      Article 1 hour ago 4 min read From Houston to the Moon: Johnson’s Thermal Vacuum Chamber Tests Lunar Solar Technology 
      Article 19 hours ago 3 min read Northwestern University Takes Top Honors in BIG Idea Lunar Inflatables Challenge 
      Article 23 hours ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics
      Missions
      Humans in Space
      Climate Change
      Solar System
      View the full article
    • By NASA
      5 Min Read Making Mars’ Moons: Supercomputers Offer ‘Disruptive’ New Explanation
      A NASA study using a series of supercomputer simulations reveals a potential new solution to a longstanding Martian mystery: How did Mars get its moons? The first step, the findings say, may have involved the destruction of an asteroid. 
      The research team, led by Jacob Kegerreis, a postdoctoral research scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, found that an asteroid passing near Mars could have been disrupted – a nice way of saying “ripped apart” – by the Red Planet’s strong gravitational pull.
      The team’s simulations show the resulting rocky fragments being strewn into a variety of orbits around Mars. More than half the fragments would have escaped the Mars system, but others would’ve stayed in orbit. Tugged by the gravity of both Mars and the Sun, in the simulations some of the remaining asteroid pieces are set on paths to collide with one another, every encounter further grinding them down and spreading more debris. 
      Many collisions later, smaller chunks and debris from the former asteroid could have settled into a disk encircling the planet. Over time, some of this material is likely to have clumped together, possibly forming Mars’ two small moons, Phobos and Deimos.
      To assess whether this was a realistic chain of events, the research team explored hundreds of different close encounter simulations, varying the asteroid’s size, spin, speed, and distance at its closest approach to the planet. The team used their high-performance, open-source computing code, called SWIFT, and the advanced computing systems at Durham University in the United Kingdom to study in detail both the initial disruption and, using another code, the subsequent orbits of the debris.
      In a paper published Nov. 20 in the journal Icarus, the researchers report that, in many of the scenarios, enough asteroid fragments survive and collide in orbit to serve as raw material to form the moons. 
      “It’s exciting to explore a new option for the making of Phobos and Deimos – the only moons in our solar system that orbit a rocky planet besides Earth’s,” said Kegerreis. “Furthermore, this new model makes different predictions about the moons’ properties that can be tested against the standard ideas for this key event in Mars’ history.”
      Two hypotheses for the formation of the Martian moons have led the pack. One proposes that passing asteroids were captured whole by Mars’ gravity, which could explain the moons’ somewhat asteroid-like appearance. The other says that a giant impact on the planet blasted out enough material – a mix of Mars and impactor debris – to form a disk and, ultimately, the moons. Scientists believe a similar process formed Earth’s Moon.
      The latter explanation better accounts for the paths the moons travel today – in near-circular orbits that closely align with Mars’ equator. However, a giant impact ejects material into a disk that, mostly, stays close to the planet. And Mars’ moons, especially Deimos, sit quite far away from the planet and probably formed out there, too. 
      “Our idea allows for a more efficient distribution of moon-making material to the outer regions of the disk,” said Jack Lissauer, a research scientist at Ames and co-author on the paper. “That means a much smaller ‘parent’ asteroid could still deliver enough material to send the moons’ building blocks to the right place.”
      It’s exciting to explore a new option for the making of Phobos and Deimos – the only moons in our solar system that orbit a rocky planet besides Earth’s.
      Jacob Kegerreis
      Postdoctoral research scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center
      Testing different ideas for the formation of Mars’ moons is the primary goal of the upcoming Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) sample return mission led by JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency). The spacecraft will survey both moons to determine their origin and collect samples of Phobos to bring to Earth for study. A NASA instrument on board, called MEGANE – short for Mars-moon Exploration with GAmma rays and Neutrons – will identify the chemical elements Phobos is made of and help select sites for the sample collection. Some of the samples will be collected by a pneumatic sampler also provided by NASA as a technology demonstration contribution to the mission. Understanding what the moons are made of is one clue that could help distinguish between the moons having an asteroid origin or a planet-plus-impactor source.
      Before scientists can get their hands on a piece of Phobos to analyze, Kegerreis and his team will pick up where they left off demonstrating the formation of a disk that has enough material to make Phobos and Deimos. 
      “Next, we hope to build on this proof-of-concept project to simulate and study in greater detail the full timeline of formation,” said Vincent Eke, associate professor at the Institute for Computational Cosmology at Durham University and a co-author on the paper. “This will allow us to examine the structure of the disk itself and make more detailed predictions for what the MMX mission could find.”  
      For Kegerreis, this work is exciting because it also expands our understanding of how moons might be born – even if it turns out that Mars’ own formed by a different route. The simulations offer a fascinating exploration, he says, of the possible outcomes of encounters between objects like asteroids and planets. These events were common in the early solar system, and simulations could help researchers reconstruct the story of how our cosmic backyard evolved. 
      This research is a collaborative effort between Ames and Durham University, supported by the Institute for Computational Cosmology’s Planetary Giant Impact Research group. The simulations used were run using the open-source SWIFT code, carried out on the DiRAC (Distributed Research Utilizing Advanced Computing) Memory Intensive service (“COSMA”), hosted by Durham University on behalf of the DiRAC High-Performance Computing facility.
      For news media:
      Members of the news media interested in covering this topic should reach out to the NASA Ames newsroom.
      Share
      Details
      Last Updated Nov 20, 2024 Related Terms
      Mars Ames Research Center Ames Research Center's Science Directorate General High-Tech Computing Mars Moons Martian Moon Exploration (MMX) Missions NASA Centers & Facilities Planets Technology The Solar System Explore More
      5 min read NASA’s Swift Reaches 20th Anniversary in Improved Pointing Mode
      After two decades in space, NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory is performing better than ever…
      Article 1 hour ago 2 min read Gateway Tops Off
      Gateway’s Power and Propulsion Element is now equipped with its xenon and liquid fuel tanks.
      Article 2 hours ago 2 min read About the Office of the Chief Knowledge Officer (OCKO)
      Article 6 hours ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA
      Missions
      Humans in Space
      Climate Change
      Solar System
      View the full article
    • By European Space Agency
      Video: 00:04:30 Explore the immense power of water as ESA’s Mars Express takes us on a flight over curving channels, streamlined islands and muddled ‘chaotic terrain’ on Mars, soaking up rover landing sites along the way.
      This beautiful flight around the Oxia Palus region of Mars covers a total area of approximately 890 000 km2, more than twice the size of Germany. Central to the tour is one of Mars’s largest outflow channels, Ares Vallis. It stretches for more than 1700 km2 and cascades down from the planet’s southern highlands to enter the lower-lying plains of Chryse Planitia.
      Billions of years ago, water surged through Ares Vallis, neighbouring Tiu Vallis, and numerous other smaller channels, creating many of the features observed in this region today.
      Enjoy the flight!
      After enjoying a spectacular global view of Mars we focus in on the area marked by the white rectangle. Our flight starts over the landing site of NASA’s Pathfinder mission, whose Sojourner rover explored the floodplains of Ares Vallis for 12 weeks in 1997. 
      Continuing to the south, we pass over two large craters named Masursky and Sagan. The partially eroded crater rim of Masursky in particular suggests that water once flowed through it, from nearby Tiu Vallis.
      The Masurky Crater is filled with jumbled blocks, and you can see many more as we turn north to Hydaspis Chaos. This ‘chaotic terrain’ is typical of regions influenced by massive outflow channels. Its distinctive muddled appearance is thought to arise when subsurface water is suddenly released from underground to the surface. The resulting loss of support from below causes the surface to slump and break into blocks of various sizes and shapes.
      Just beyond this chaotic array of blocks is Galilaei crater, which has a highly eroded rim and a gorge carved between the crater and neighbouring channel. It is likely that the crater once contained a lake, which flooded out into the surroundings. Continuing on, we see streamlined islands and terraced river banks, the teardrop-shaped island ‘tails’ pointing in the downstream direction of the water flow at the time.
      Crossing over Ares Vallis again, the flight brings us to the smoother terrain of Oxia Planum and the planned landing site for ESA’s ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover. The primary goal of the mission is to search for signs of past or present life on Mars, and as such, this once water-flooded region is an ideal location.
      Zooming out, the flight ends with a stunning bird’s-eye view of Ares Vallis and its fascinating  water-enriched neighbourhood. 
      Disclaimer: This video is not representative of how Mars Express flies over the surface of Mars. See processing notes below.
      How the movie was made
      This film was created using the Mars Express High Resolution Stereo Camera Mars Chart (HMC30) data, an image mosaic made from single orbit observations of the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC). The mosaic, centred at 12°N/330°E, is combined with topography information from the digital terrain model to generate a three-dimensional landscape. 
      For every second of the movie, 50 separate frames are rendered following a predefined camera path in the scene. A three-fold vertical exaggeration has been applied. Atmospheric effects such as clouds and haze have been added to conceal the limits of the terrain model. The haze starts building up at a distance of 300 km. 
      The HRSC camera on Mars Express is operated by the German Aerospace Center (DLR). The systematic processing of the camera data took place at the DLR Institute for Planetary Research in Berlin-Adlershof. The working group of Planetary Science and Remote Sensing at Freie Universität Berlin used the data to create the film.
      View the full article
  • Check out these Videos

×
×
  • Create New...