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New Cave Entrances Seen on Mars

Posted by Zonk on from the oh-good-lord-what-is-that-arrgh dept.

Riding with Robots writes "The Mars Odyssey orbiter has come across what look to be openings to cavernous spaces under the surface of Mars. NASA reports the find is fueling interest in potential underground habitats and sparking searches for caves elsewhere on the Red Planet. These latest images follow other recent discoveries of intriguing places to explore. From the article: 'The find has led some to wonder if these or other caves on the planet may provide shelter to life or former life on the Red Planet. "Somewhere on Mars, caves might provide a protected niche for past or current life, or shelter for humans in the future," said Tim Titus of the U.S. Geological Survey in Flagstaff. These caves, however, likely never hosted life due to the extreme altitude of their location. "Even if life has ever existed on Mars, it may not have migrated to this height," said Cushing.'"

12 of 110 comments (clear)

  1. Hidin' in a cave by BWJones · · Score: 5, Funny

    Gee, maybe that is where Osama Bin Laden has been hiding. :-) After all, Bush had said "He could be hidin in a cave with the door open, he could be hidin in a cave with the door closed". It may also explain why Bush wants to go to Mars so bad...

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  2. There better be something in that cave by Nymz · · Score: 4, Funny
    Otherwise how do we justify honoring the Martians with their own Slashdot Topic Icon.
    • Pluto was denied (because it's too small, a dwarf planet)
    • Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, & Neptune were denied (for not being terrestrial enough)
    • Venus was denied (she's female)
    • Earth was denied (no intelligent life?)
    1. Re:There better be something in that cave by Ambiguous+Puzuma · · Score: 5, Funny

      Poor Mercury didn't even make it onto the "denied" list...

  3. Old news, from APRIL 2! by Tmack · · Score: 4, Informative
    Why is this being reported just now by discovery? Are they competing with /. on who can post the oldest articles and get away with calling it news? Really, this was posted on space.com back in APRIL!!!

    See Here

    Blah

    Tm

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    1. Re:Old news, from APRIL 2! by x1n933k · · Score: 5, Informative

      Actually this is different. If we look at NASA's site:

      09.21.07 - Odyssey Finds Possible Cave Skylights on Mars NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft has discovered entrances to seven possible caves on the slopes of a Martian volcano.

      Sure, both reports mention a volcano's but there's no way NASA would report the same thing twice, right?

      [J]

  4. Mars robots by Tribbin · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Will they steer for the caves?

    That was the first question on my mind.

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    1. Re:Mars robots by Tablizer · · Score: 5, Informative

      Will they steer for the caves?

      Even if they were in range (they're not), there are two other problems. First, being solar powered, they couldn't go into the caves because they would have no power to get out if they got stuck or lost. Second, there would be no usable radio communication inside a cave because the walls block the waves.

      Seems what is needed is some kind of expendable micro-bot that launches from a bigger bot.

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  5. There is good reason to get to those caves. by MrCopilot · · Score: 5, Informative
    http://www.highmars.org/niac/niac01.html

    Project Objectives:

    The primary objective of this feasibility demonstration is to show that relatively simple, easily-deployable subsurface habitats are constructible in caves, lavatubes, and other subsurface voids. Further, we intend to demonstrate that they are suitable to sustain small animals, plants, and ultimately humans in an otherwise hostile environment.

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  6. the great march of mankind by circletimessquare · · Score: 4, Insightful

    from the caves... to the fields... to the huts... to the cities... to the castles... to the flatirons... to the railroads... to the cars... to the airplanes... to the space ships... to the moon... to mars...

    to the caves?

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  7. Futurama was right by KefkaTheMad · · Score: 4, Funny

    Zapp: "The great stone face of Mars. Hmm, the only known entrance to the marsian reservation."
    Leela: "What about the great stone ass of Mars?"
    Zapp: "Well, yeah. But it's way on the other side of the planet."

  8. Dust-free caves on Mars? by eskayp · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Not being a rocket scientist there is something I don't understand:
    Why aren't the Martian caves filled with dust accumulated from the seasonal storms?
    Are gases or vapors from within clearing the cave entries of dust?
    ( We would expect to see trails of ejecta. )
    Are the caves so new or geologically young that they have not yet drifted full?
    Are the caves at elevations above most of the Martian dust storms?
    Layman's questions looking for non-tinfoil-hat expert answers.

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  9. Your rover is at the entrance to a cave.... by COMICAGOGO · · Score: 5, Funny

    To your right is a torch...
    To your left is another passage....
    In front of you is a Martian Cave Troll...

    What do you do?

          Use Mineral Sampling Device.

    On what?

          troll

    Unknown command: troll

    The troll hits you for 12 damage, you are dead.