Large Caves Found on the Surface of Mars

David DelMonte writes "Space.com is reporting on the discovery of seven dark spots near the Equator on Mars. The thinking is that these are cave openings. The openings are the size of football fields, and one of them is thought to extend approximately 400 feet below the surface.'The researchers hope the discovery will lead to more focused spelunking on Mars. "Caves on Mars could become habitats for future explorers or could be the only structures that preserve evidence of past or present microbial life ," said Glenn Cushing of Northern Arizona University, who first spotted the black areas in the photographs.'"

caves a good spot to land

[wizardforce]

Mars has no global magnetic field to deflect solar radiation which means that when humans go there they will be exposed to alot of deadly radiation- if we want to stay on mars we need a place that is safe- caves are one such place. they shield agaisnt radiation and make it easier to build habitats. this discovery could allow humans to colonize mars.

Re:Surprise?

[Cedric Tsui]

Mars does not have plate activity like earth.

This is why Mars has larger mountains and deeper valleys than earth, because the one plate does not move, and that mountain on the top of the hotspot never moved away from the source of its growth.

Re:Surprise?

[thelexx]

Speculation, no matter how informed and certain, is never as good as proof.

Re:We're not as unique as everyone thinks...

[profplump]

we thought that Earth was the center of the universe, that the sun revolved around Earth

I really wish people would stop telling these lies. The Earth *is* the center of the universe, and the sun *does* revolve around the Earth. If you're talking about other planets or galaxies it's not necessary a handy reference point, but there's no technical reason that you can't define Earth as the origin in any coordinate system. Similarly it's just as accurate to say that the sun revolves around Earth as it is to say that Earth revolves around the sun; the sun and Earth revolve around each other, and anything more specific only expresses a frame a reference, not a technical truth.

The only part people ever got wrong was the the movement of other planets; there were models that showed other planets in revolution around Earth, and those were inaccurate (and quickly discovered to be so as soon as the technology existed to measure the inaccuracies in the predicted orbits of the planets). But in a time before access to high-quality optics it's not entirely unreasonable to suppose that distant non-star objects you observe behave in the same way as the sun and the moon -- that they also revolve around the Earth.

I won't argue the "earth was flat" point (much) for the moment, as there were at least some people at some point in history who believed that. Not many people who actually studied the subject, at least not since some year that ended with "BC", but there were some people in the Early Middle Ages who argued for a flat-earth model, and their belief was wrong, so it's a better point than the first two, even if it's based on a misunderstanding of history.

And while religion does may bad (fight about stupid things) and good things (organize society in the absence of stable political powers), they can't be blamed for your misunderstanding of astronomy or history, so maybe you should lay off.

There are several ways caves form...

[Like2Byte]

There are solutional caves - caves formed by water - and there are lava-tube caves - caves (lava tubes, actually) formed by molten rock. When molten lava cools around other hotter lava, the hotter lava travels around the cooler, more solid, lava and sometimes drains out enough to create a pocket of, well, emptiness. Often times, lava tubes are not discovered until the ground gives way and opens into a pit to access the tube. Hawaii has lots of Lava tubes as do many areas near volcanoes.

On Earth, the ground breaks up due to water-action and other biological means (animals, bacteria, humans, etc...). I'm sure on Mars there's another method to break open a lava tube...sandblasting due to a large storm on Mars' surface and the occasional meteorite.

It's no surprise that Mars has caves - it makes sense. Whether or not those caves are solutional is what is important here.

Re:caves a good spot to land

[dan828]

Well it's not like we're going to ship a backhoe to mars any time soon, so finding some pre-existing holes in the ground to use just might make establishment of a base just a tad bit more convenient.

Re:spelunking

[mad.frog]

Actually, "spelunking" isn't really used in that way (at least in the USA) by people who regularly explore caves; "caving" is the preferred term.

For reasons that aren't completely clear, "spelunker" has come to mean "person who goes in caves without proper equipment or training" among American cavers. (At caving conventions, you'll see bumper stickers that read "Cavers Rescue Spelunkers".)

See Wikipedia for more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caving [wikipedia.org]

For more info in general (at least on USA caving), check out the website of the National Speleological Society: http://www.caves.org/ [caves.org]

or the chat forum, http://www.cavechat.org/ [cavechat.org]

Re:We're not as unique as everyone thinks...

[It'sYerMam]

it was postulated that if the universe was truly infinite then an exact replica of you existed

Faulty logic - the set of square numbers is infinitely large, but does not contain 3. An infinite number of universes does not imply that every singe eventuality is contained in them.

10^100 light years away, because that's how much volume of space would be required to store all possible combinations/arrangements of matter that exist in the known/visible universe - at about 10^100 light years you'd have a duplicate arrangement.

That assumes that all that is possible is what we know about.

Re:2001 A space odyssey

[Profane MuthaFucka]

Read my journal. You'll find a mix of stuff there that I like to think is insightful, as well as some sick shit that I'm particularly proud of.

Re:caves a good spot to land

[confused one]

If we do try to establish a permanent presence, like a "base" on Mars, we will need to do exactly this kind of thing: "ship a backhoe to Mars." Not a backhoe in the traditional sense; but, this kind of equipment will be required to set up the infrastructure and build the first permanent habitations. Not to mention the need for heavy equipment for acquiring raw materials, to begin development of locally available resources. In the first years, you will be far, far from self sustaining and just about everything, including all kinds of equipment and supplies, will need to be shipped to the surface of Mars.

The first trip will be a round trip mission to leave footprints, a few flags, and gather some rocks. They will take everything they need for the duration of the journey.

Any missions to build a permanent presence, will likely have to be proceeded by years of equipment drops at the settlement site, so that when the first people arrive, there are crates and crates of supplies and equipment sitting there, waiting to be opened and used. Going to Mars in any kind of semi-permanent way will be the logistical nightmare of (truly) epic proportions.