Spirit Discovers "New" Highest Peak in "Columbia Hills"

[micropage7]

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has confronted a martian version of "things being not quite what they seem," though on a much smaller scale. From Spirit's distant landing site out on the plains of Gusev Crater, the highest peak in the "Columbia Hills" appeared to be "Husband Hill."

After making a trek to the "Columbia Hills," Spirit has been traversing and studying slopes, rocks, and sand deposits there for more than a year. New measurements from Spirit show that "McCool Hill" is about 85 feet (26 meters) taller than its neighbor, "Husband Hill." And, indeed, digital maps created from orbital images tell a similar story. At first, "McCool Hill," partly blocked from view, appeared smaller.
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/solarsystem/mer_feature_20060302.html

 

[Drone]

Cool place. Maybe we'll see it in DOOM 4?

 

[CyberDruid]

They need to do some landscaping on that place...too red...needs more green.

 

[Kreij]

So Mc Cool Hill is farther away and taller, but you can't judge that by looking from a distance.
Wow ... that's rocket science at it's best.

On a side note, it looks like Mars would make a GREAT off-road park.

 

[scooper22]

gee and I thought the Mars was flat like Earth is...

 

[Inceptor]

Time to smash a few comets into the thing, create some atmosphere.
Or, do it Aliens style with 'atmospheric processing plants'.

Seriously, looks like the Mars rover team is grasping at straws for news these days.

 

[CyberDruid]

Well they can't reveal the remains of their ancient civilizations, and they can't show us the constant UFO activity, so looking at some lumps in the distance is all we get.

 

[HossHuge]

Give it about 10 million years and that picture will look very different. Mars' planet Phobos will make things interesting.

Because Phobos orbits so close to Mars, gravity is continually pulling it closer to the planet. It is believed that it will one day crash into Mars, possibly in as little as 10 million years. Once Phobos gets down to an altitude of only 2,250 miles (3,620 km) above the surface of Mars, it will enter what's known as the Roche limit. At this point, the tidal forces of Mars will begin to tear the small moon apart. When this happens, it may eventually turn it into a small ring that will continue to spiral into the planet.

source