When the data from NASA’s Mars rovers was released,geological sciences professor David Blackwell thought it wasinteresting, but he remained skeptical.

“You can’t really be sure about [data] like thatuntil you have the samples in your hands for testing,”Blackwell said. “Although their conclusions are feasible,there are other conclusions that are equally feasible.”

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory reported evidence ofwater erosion, sandstorm weathering, sedimentary layering andrusted iron ore. John Sepikos, a JPL engineer, said that peopleinvolved with the program are thrilled by the data they havereceived and feel that it is conclusive.

“People are coming out of retirement to see this massiveamount of information that we are receiving,” Sepikos said.”We can’t believe that we have been fortunate to findan area with so few rocks, yet such drastic topography soclose.”

Mars landscape examined

When soil is deposited, it is layered from the oldest soils downdeep to the younger soils on top. It takes a major event, anearthquake or volcano for example, to shift the layers out of theiroriginal position. The layers are then worn away.

“One thing that they may consider,” Blackwellsuggested, “is igneous layering that has been cut away by theblast from the sand storms. This could cause an effect similar tothe sedimentary layering that they believe they see.”

Blackwell also said that the channels seen in the images werenot caused by water erosion but by something known as a”collapse structure.”

Different crystals and chemicals cool at varying temperaturesafter they melt. He said that the soils could have collapseddownward and settled after the sudden cooling of the upper crust ofthe planet.

“The channels do not run anywhere,” Blackwell said.”They begin in the middle of nowhere and do not follow any ofthe known flow theories for water wear.”

Water runs downhill, wraps around raised inclines and meandersdownward to form a mouth or delta.

The images of the channels on Mars seem to have the rifts,crossing mountain ridges and around them, starting in the middle oflow elevation areas and rising upward and leaving no evidence of adelta region.

They just appear to stop as suddenly as they started, Blackwellsaid.

Just as there are other explanations for the rifts created onMars, there are alternate reasons for the oxidation of iron besidesrusting. The deterioration of iron can also be caused byatmospheric erosion.

“I just feel that perhaps they may be closing their mindsto other possibilities because they have a certain thing that theywant to see,” Blackwell said.

“They have opened up so many areas for our research anddone some pretty incredible things. I hope they are right. I justfeel that it is too soon to be conclusive.”

Data collection and analysis

Since the rover doesn’t have any ability to see below thesurface, scientists can only dig samples and examine them with therobot, Sepikos said.

The soil samples would not be examined for fossils, bacteria orany other life forms at this time.

“We are only interested in the geology,” Sepikossaid. “We want to see what the planet itself can tell us. Webelieve the planets early development paralleled ours until about 4billion years ago, then it suddenly stopped.” he said.

“Imagine a pie with a thin crust over a bubbling mass ofjuices and you stir it up,” Sepikos said. “On a smallpie, there is less area, it hardens faster and is harder to stir.The crust on a pie in a larger pan takes longer to cool.That’s where we are.”

Problem probes

Sepikos said that there are two main problems with theprobes.

“One problem is that we ran out of memory for the data andimages, basically, in the computer. These machines are nothing likeyour home PC,” he said.

Power failure is also a concern. The rovers are powered by solarpanels. Dust, dirt and rocks scour the panels and damage them, soeventually the power cells will fail completely. “For everysuccess, there are failures in the test phase. There may have beenapproximately 70 satellites that failed before these succeeded.Since they were consecutive, we feel hopeful that we have finallystumbled on the right combination,” he said.