Mysterious Martian Gouges Carved By Sand-surfing Dry Ice 26
sciencehabit writes: After the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter began beaming back close-up images of the Red Planet, researchers spotted peculiar features along the slopes of dunes: long, sharply defined grooves that seem to appear and disappear seasonally. They look like trails left behind by tumbling boulders, but rocks never appear in the sunken pits at the trail ends. Researchers initially took these gullies as signs of flowing liquid water, but a new model suggests they're the result of sand-surfing dry ice that breaks off from the crests of dunes and skids down slopes. This is no ordinary tumble — according to the model, the bases of the chunks are continually sublimating, resulting in a hovercraftlike motion that gouges the dune while propelling the ice down slopes.
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Re:Yawn. (Score:5, Funny)
In what sense does a camera on wheels even remotely count as human?
Remotely.
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Ok. I nominate you.
Where to look for life (Score:2)
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The carbon dioxide is what freezes and unfreezes seasonally at the poles, not water. The water is always frozen.
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If this is what is really happening, then this will be not only be evidence of life, but Republican life. Look for traces of wealthy activity.
I'm not saying it's aliens (Score:3)
...but aliens!
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Came for this. Left satisfied. [i.qkme.me]
and on earth... (Score:5, Interesting)
This reminds me of the recent controversy over the mysterious sailing stones of Death Valley California.
http://worldgeographicchannel.... [worldgeogr...hannel.com]
Many attempted to explain the phenomena but only a cleverly timed photographic sequence was able to explain the relatively simple process by which stones moved across the sand. Not everything on earth and in the heavens is beyond human comprehension.
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Soon it will be. With the inevitable demise of the technological society the death of science will be unavoidable.
The death of science is the death of humanity, not just technological society. Figuring things out will still be a thing, and there will still be a best way to do that which will be discovered once again even if lost.
Re: and on earth... (Score:1)
There's some great typos in that article, here's my fav:
"The initial recorded account of the sliding rock phenomenon days to 1915, when a miner called Joseph Crook from Fallon, Nevada saw the Racetrack Playa website."
TL;DR (Score:5, Informative)
NASA JPL video. [youtube.com]
Leidenfrost effect? (Score:1)
sounds like Leidenfrost effect [wikipedia.org], although this effect normally involves a liquid.
How to colonize Mars (Score:4, Funny)
Since this is a public relations issue, what's needed is a rabid single issue voting block that can sway elections and spark fear in the hearts of elected officials, like the NRA. It helps if the issue can be simplified to a simple "for us or against us" mentality.
So here's the pitch:
Surf a Martian Sand Dune on a Block of DRY ICE in 1/3rd Gravity!!!
Every extreme sport enthusiast will go nuts. And if they are anything, they are fanatics. That's why it's called extreme sports. So there is an already existing community that can be recruited and is crazy enough to focus on only one thing. Additionally, the demographic is alienated from politics, so they don't have to be recruited from existing voter blocks.
I see a Kickstarter campaign, and possible participation from Red Bull and GoPro. What could possibly go wrong?
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