Observations

Observations

Cracks and moisture on Walls

In Sol 1104 there may be active process going on. There is a deep crack on the wall. In the crack we see also a white vein. In the middle of the crack there is a large hole. There is a wide light tone color area surrounding the crack. In Sol 1429 we see very similar case. And in addition we see traces of a flow under the cracks (yellow arrows). And the (new?) light tone material is covering the old geological formations. Sol 747: do we see wet sand in middle of the image? Why in images of this area the white veins are in the borders of different color areas? Are the colors here produced with different microbial species divided in areas by veins? The geological layers are horizontal. But the wet looking area, veins and color areas are vertical. Similar case is Sol 1048: Wet stone/sand (A)? Has Curiosity captured in this image active flow of something(B)? There is some similarities in objects in Sol 710, 528 and 529: All located in shadows in a cave like crack. Is there tracks on the sand in Sol 710 image? In Sol 1167 Curiosity has driven over a stone revealing the underground part of the stone: Moisture? Note white objects in underground part.

In Sol 1459 Curiosity images , Murray Buttes area, there is white material on shadow side walls. They are on top of the old geological formations. In nearby Sol 1489 we see similar formations very close to Curiosity.

Underground bugs ?

It has been speculated that underground conditions in Mars could be suitable for life forms resembling bugs and worms. The Sol 765 image A has underground soil as result of a sample drilling. Here we see 2 shiny, yellow tone and partly transparent objects. The larger one has symmetric shape. In image D Sol 765, Curiosity created a pile of underground soil. Images B, C, E and F are from the center of this pile during two days. In Sol 767 images B and E there is small shiny objects which are not visible two days earlier, Sol 765 images C and F. In image G, Sol 69 we see also a shiny object which was in underground soil. In Sol-794 image there is a hole on the wall. Under the hole there is a pile of fine grained sand on the ground. The Sol 826 is of same hole one month later. Interesting question to ask here is: Which one was first here: The hole or the vein? You could argue that the vein continues also below the hole, so the hole must have appeared later. In Sol-796 images there seems to be similar cases. In Sol 842 image there is two similar interesting holes in the sand. In embedded Sol 271 image you can compare the holes to holes produced by Curiositys laser.

Now i do some wild speculation: Let's assume for a while that the Sol-765 object would really be a Martian bug. Then what does it eat? If the white veins are chemolithiautotrophic microbes then that could be biological material to use as nutrient. And that would be the reason to see holes associated with the white veins. The Martian bugs would be eating their way through the veins. And the bugs would mostly stay underground because there they are protected from radiation and also the night temperature underground is warmer compared to air temperature at night. The bug in Sol-765 would be a dead one because the drill of Curiosity insured it or the higher radiation level on the surface killed it. In Sol-765 MAHLI archive there is images of this object during 10 minutes time. During that time this object has not moved. Another issue to note is this area stones with holes there is same color sand as the stone just around the stones, for example in Sol 842 image 0842MR0037460100500901E01_DXXX . This may mean that the sand has been produced from the stone recently. End of wild speculation.

In these same sand piles there are also other interesting changes during 10 days in images below. Related to changes is maybe following physical processes: The originally wet sand pile is drying and shrinking and wind may move grains. Most of the small stones have remained exactly in same position. Some of the stones are in different position after 10 days. Average wind speed at Gale crater is about 7 meters per second [107]. But if air pressure is so low, how can wind cause enough force to move some of the stones? Is it possible that the air pressure is much higher?

In Sol 853 images below, December 30 2014, there is interesting change during one hour. There may be an object moving. In second row, the Sol-869 (16th of January 2015) first image has been taken in daylight. The second image is during night, with Curiosity’s LED light. The shiny object has changed shape in 5 hours. In night image it covers larger area. Sol 895: Hollow spherule??

Another interesting phenomenon (related or not) is visible on the deck of Curiosity on Sol-765 and Sol-1061 (1st of Aug 2015) images. Below we see some sand and dust on the deck. But there is also interesting clean tracks going through the dust. We see some small objects on the other end of some of the tracks. Can small stones moving on the deck cause these? If vibration is causing small stones to move, why does the dust not move and cover the tracks? The stones are probably sliding instead of rolling. There is similar phenomenon on the ground in Sol 1065 MAHLI image.In Sol 1121 image the arrow points to track part where we possibly see daily movement. Could it be that moisture of air freezes to the deck on nighttime. In the morning when temperature rises the deck becomes slippery and the stones slide a small distance? In Sol 1425 we see movement of the object during 3 minutes and 39 seconds. Other stones stand still. But this one slides through thick dust layer. Note that shadows are short, so the Sun is high up, and there should be no more any kind of ice causing movement. The tracks of objects in Sols 765, 1061 and 1425 are smooth. The track of irregular shape object in sol 1121 has more randomness.

Dr. Lyall Winston Small has similar observations in his SmugMug Mars image archive [143] , close to Phoenix lander 2008. The images below are from Winstons SmugMug site with his permission. Study the Sol 40 and 28 objects and the tracks closely. Compare the tracks to tracks on Curiosity's deck. And the Sol 19 object, which was not there before. ..and think...and check in this Phoenix archive what happens in Martian soil under microscopic camera of Phoenix in Sol 137 and other similar images in the archive.

Various objects

In this chapter is observations of interesting objects without classification yet. In Sol 812 and 809 we can see interesting patterns in surface. In sol 886 drilling hole walls in same area we see that this pattern is three dimensional and it continues deeper. On Sol 1489 image we see best closeup of thin flat surfaces covering stones. These have been on the walls in some other areas also.

Images Z-1 and Z-2 have something similar and exceptional compared to all images taken by Mars rovers. Sol 181 has besides white veins a lot of interesting same size round depressions on the ground of ancient sea floor. Proposal for Sol 65 object origin was that maybe from Curiosity rover itself. Sol 1095 is MAHLI image combination of Sol 1094. The Sol 1087 object is similar in shape and color and is close to 1095 object.

Images from the orbit of Mars

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) by NASA has been in orbit of Mars since 2006. It is also used as radio link for Curiosity. MRO has a high resolution camera HiRISE = High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, which can image surface of Mars with 30 centimeters resolution. With the ESP and PSP archive identity number you can get the original high resolution image with an internet search like “hirise PSP_010854_1325”. In the Newton crater we see active flow of liquid salty water. They have been named Recurring Slope Lineae (RSL). This image is a re-projection of HiRISE images taken May 30, 2011. In another RSL image in middle, left, the black areas first appear as dark and then during time they get a lighter white color tone.

Under surface of Mars there is some dark material. In high latitudes, during the spring, the melting carbon dioxide ice is moving the dark material to surface. The Gusev crater is near the equator. In Earth sulfate-reducing bacteria produce black color metal sulfides. One interesting form of life to consider as a model for life on Mars is Snow Algae , which on Earth lives in cold environments.

In first row there are Hubble Space Telescope image from years 2005 and 2016 and image by Indias Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) from 2014 and 2015. In left side MOM image the dark area below the center is Sinus Meridiani and the dark area on right from center is Syrtis Major. There is interesting round cloud formation marked with letter "P" in MOM image. The Yellow-Greenish color tones in Martian landscape are interesting in right side image, which shows also one of the Moons of Mars, Phobos. The Elysium image by Viking Orbiter is example of dark areas which can appear on Mars, without any dust storms affecting them [63]. The Elysium dark area is at equator, latitude range 0 to 30 degrees, longitude range -180 to -135 degrees. Copyright for the MOM images is by ISRO/MOM/India.

Ice, Water and Moisture

Curiosity measured that Martian soil contains 2-6 percent water and the water is in liquid state in temperature range -70..+10 degrees Celsius in Mars [132,133]. From time to time Curiosity comes to areas where there are like fresh looking flow traces on the ground, like in this Sol 389 and 661 image. Can these traces be produced by water or ice which is mixed in the soil and the soil is freezing and melting periodically ? In Sol 387 image there seems to be a hole in the ground. Has something flown in or out here? Fluid or gas ?

Similar case is in this Sol 538 Front Hazard Avoidance Camera image 2014-02-10 00:35:32 UTC . Also interesting image to study is 0580MR0024071220400117E01_DXXX .

In Sol-529 below the sand is attached to Curiosity wheels. Reason: moisture on sand? In Sol 1168 image Curiosity has driven over stones. Stones have pushed soil into mud resembling formations. Some stones are broken in places where veins have weaken the stone, revealing white vein interior.

Below is a hole on the ground at John Klein site. The left image is in Sol-183 and the right image is 88 Mars days later, Sol-271. The yellow arrow on Sol-271 image points to a vein and nodule, which is not visible in Sol-183 image. In Sol-271 image, above the hole there is a series of small holes done with Curiosity laser. The laser vaporizes the sand and ChemCamera analyses the chemistry of the vapor.The Sol 589 shows a distant bright flash in Left navigation camera image. One proposal for it is cosmic ray hitting the camera sensor, since the Right navigation camera image does not have this flash. But are the left and right camera images taken exactly the same time? Another proposal has been an underground methane eruption, and the ignition mechanism and source for oxygen is proposed in reference [142].

Wheels and Deck of Curiosity and bio-corrosion

Curiosity's aluminum wheels have suffered quite much damages on its journey. You can read about it in this Universe Today article: Ken Kremer, December 26, 2013: Rough Red Planet Rocks Rip Rover Curiosity Wheels . Do we see below some white material in interior of this middle right side wheel ? Is it just reflection of light ? Ice ? Fungi? From Sol 591 image , where sunlight comes better to the wheel interior, it could be concluded that this is just reflection of light. But from other images it is more difficult to make that conclusion. In Sol 521 there is also red sand inside the wheel.In Sol-177 image the wheel is still very clean. In upper row images i have enhanced dark areas brighter. In second row there is no enhancement. Could it be that moisture freezes to interior of wheels and there comes a layer of ice ? And in Sol-591 image where sunlight hits the interior of wheel, the ice has melted away ?

One thing to consider for possible future manned missions is: If Mars has wide spread chemolithoautotrophic microbes, then what kind of construction materials should be selected for human settlements? Materials should be such that Martian microbes do not like them.

The aluminum, which is used in Curiosity's wheels and which is an ingredient in clay minerals, may not be the best choice. The possibility of bio-corrosion( Biodeterioration) for Mars rovers is handled in article: Rhawn Joseph (assisted by Harry Rabb), December 2016: Contamination and Damage to the Mars Rovers by Martian Fungi and Bacteria . The microbiological problems and bio-corrosion in space is handled also in article by Institute of Biomedical Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences doctors Natalia D. Novikova, Elena A. Deshevaya and Svetlana V. Poddubko, April 2016: Long-term spaceflight and microbiological safety issues .

On the image series below we may see microbial colonies growing on the deck of Curiosity. And if so there are two alternatives. Either they are Martian microbes or Microbes from Earth. The latter alternative is worse, since it would mean that Curiosity is currently contaminating Mars with Earth microbes. If these are microbial colonies then we see that the daily amount on UV radiation, cosmic radiation and temperature variations on the surface of Mars does not harm them. And water would be provided by evening and morning moisture from air. My own guess is that these would be Martian microbes. On top row is the 150-micrometer sieve in robotic arm CHIMRA instrument used sieve particles from samples.

Similar observations to image above is also from deck of Opportunity and Spirit by Dr.Small in [143]. Example of such is Sol 2813 image above from deck of Opportunity: Dark blue stains.

In image below we can investigate changes on the deck of Opportunity rover during 12 years. On Sol 3 and 13 images the deck is clean with bright colors, and dark solar panels. 12 years later, December 2016, we see that generally the deck has same blue tone as the in many places in Mars, especially in blueberry areas. On right side instrument base(white ring) we may see physical damage, possibly caused by thermal expansion (?).