"We all know Mars as the Red Planet, we see that in the night sky. However, as our drill tailings gallery shows, once we drill just a small depth in to the interior, Mars can be very different. We have drilled successfully 29 times now and the sediments show a range of hues from ochre-red to blue-grey reflecting the minerals and fluids that passed through the ancient rocks. Drilling allows us to get through the topmost, oxidized surface that has been most exposed to cosmic radiation."
Mars was quite bright and easily spotted in the evening sky through the fall of 2020, and in fact came within just 39 million miles of Earth in mid-October. It won't get that close again for fifteen years. In my neck of the woods it often appeared more yellow than red, even through a telescope.
ReplyDeleteIt was funny to me that the "red planet" was less red than its celestial "rival", Antares.
Imagine going about your day, minding your own business, while over your head, in, what is to you, the sky, something, somebody, is drilling noisy, nosy holes.
ReplyDeleteHow long before you, your neighbours, your government, your country, your planet .... takes umbrage and then takes action against such liberties ?
Drilling holes into Mars is bad in that it lets radiation into the inner sphere ... inconsiderate at least that it lets the Martian air out ... but it is downright dangerous when you realise that them Martians are going to be like a swarm of angry bees when they finally have had enough and retaliate against us with force.
And when I say bees, we shouldn't assume they are small.
Let us not make the same mistake we did on the Bikini atoll.
Thank you. That was interesting - and impressive. What amazes me is that the entire sequence appears to be autonomous. And I wonder how they navigate to the landing spot in the dry lakebed (excellent choice!) without GPS satellites circling the planet.
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