Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
Seeing how we humans behave, it is decent to assume that if we ever end up colonizing Mars, wars will probably break out there as well. Given the particularities of the planet, there’s no telling what shape they’ll take (although writers have tried repeatedly to imagine that), or what kind of machines will be used.
Today, Mars is a deserted place, somewhat kept under constant supervision by scientists here on Earth, trying to make sense of the place. Most of the time, they manage that, and give us examples of what they’ve been capable of achieving.
Not that many of these examples make sense to our brains, though. Take the image we have here: where the people from NASA and the University of Arizona see a potential outflow channel filled with sand, sedimentary deposits, and dunes, we see, probably influenced by the war going on over in Europe, tank tracks. If tanks will ever be used during a Martian war.
The image was snapped by a piece of hardware operated by the two organizations mentioned above back in November of last year. HiRISE is how the hardware is called, and it was orbiting the planet at a distance of 285 km (177 miles) above the surface when it saw this.
We’re looking at a small portion of the planet, located near the Huo Hsing Vallis, inside an old crater. Huo Hsing, which literally means Mars in Chinese, is an ancient river valley, spanning close to 320 km (199 miles) in the Syrtis Major quadrangle.
According to the scientists who have deciphered this pic, the crater which holds the feature may have been filled in by lava at one point in the past, which now overlays sand and other sediments. “Dunes are also visible in this channel, which can be compared to similar features in Huo Hsing Vallis,” they say.
Although it may look a bit bland, not taking into account the fact it reminds some of tank tracks, this image and others like it will probably be crucial to future missions to the planet, including crewed ones, as they give us a sense of where to land, what to look for, and eventually where to set up camp. Hopefully, for good.
Not that many of these examples make sense to our brains, though. Take the image we have here: where the people from NASA and the University of Arizona see a potential outflow channel filled with sand, sedimentary deposits, and dunes, we see, probably influenced by the war going on over in Europe, tank tracks. If tanks will ever be used during a Martian war.
The image was snapped by a piece of hardware operated by the two organizations mentioned above back in November of last year. HiRISE is how the hardware is called, and it was orbiting the planet at a distance of 285 km (177 miles) above the surface when it saw this.
We’re looking at a small portion of the planet, located near the Huo Hsing Vallis, inside an old crater. Huo Hsing, which literally means Mars in Chinese, is an ancient river valley, spanning close to 320 km (199 miles) in the Syrtis Major quadrangle.
According to the scientists who have deciphered this pic, the crater which holds the feature may have been filled in by lava at one point in the past, which now overlays sand and other sediments. “Dunes are also visible in this channel, which can be compared to similar features in Huo Hsing Vallis,” they say.
Although it may look a bit bland, not taking into account the fact it reminds some of tank tracks, this image and others like it will probably be crucial to future missions to the planet, including crewed ones, as they give us a sense of where to land, what to look for, and eventually where to set up camp. Hopefully, for good.
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