MARS PHOENIX MISCELLANEOUS
Report #142
July 2, 2008
Joseph P. Skipper
J. P. Skipper can be contacted at: jskipper@marsanomalyresearch.com
The above first image here is supposed to demonstrate the "Dodo-Goldilocks" (I don't come up with these names) trench dug by Phoenix on 6/16/2008 or Mars Sol 22. During that Sol 22 period, the Phoenix Canadian onboard weather station tells us that it warmed up to a blistering –25.6º F. or –32º C. and got down as cold as –112º F. or –80º C. Note that these are all minus sign figures. I don't know about where you are in your part of the world but a high temperature of almost –25º below zero Fahrenheit dipping down to a mere –112º below zero is way too cold for these old bones. At such severe cold freezing temperatures, many metals could be seriously compromised.
With that stage set and as many of you know, in these conditions NASA scientists have now publicly announced that the Phoenix Lander has discovered water ice and soil nutrients favorable to life as we know it. In the first image above, the bright white reflective material you see in Phoenix's scooped out trench just below the soil surface is a sample look at some of this water ice. The Phoenix mission scientists communicate that they are stunned by this apparently unexpected development. For some news reporting on this, take a look at some of the news releases at the online links below.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25396378/from/ET
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/080620-phoenix-ice-update.html
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/080624-phoenix-update.html
First the Vatican and now NASA officially beginning to creep onboard the basic concept that there just might be favorable conditions and life we may have to eventually deal with on worlds other than Earth. What in the world is going on? Is the sky falling or what? Is a corner being turned here behind the scenes? Has someone finally decided to ever so carefully anticipate and get out in front of the coming change instead of trying to dig in and resist it and be swept along by it? Is someone now beginning to try to gently herd the science and academic flocks in a new (for them) and different direction chancing a general wake up from slumber event?
Even if any measure of this has any truth, I suspect any such changes will be anticipated by them to take decades to accomplish and that they will have that kind of time to deal with this. However, that is just not the nature of the beast. Such beginning moves should have been enabled at minimum one or two decades ago. Even so, something positive now is better late than never.
As some of you know, I have no confidence in the Phoenix imaging out over the terrain to the horizon line and that the empty plains conditions are real. I suspect Phoenix is actually somewhere else other than where it is publicly suppose to be or the images of the outer terrain are not really local to Lander or real at all. Now the images close and nearby the Lander are a different matter and could be on Mars. Still, there are some questions and inconsistencies.
For example, my research indicates that the North Polar region is generally colder and dryer than the South Polar region. The differences in the dispersal and type of life in these two places on opposite ends of the planet are key to this observation. Now, if some of you will remember, the original instrument probe data was from the South Polar region and it recorded temperatures as low as around –220º F. and that was later adjusted to around –180º F. Either temperature is severely cold enough to readily freeze CO2 right out of the air to fall to the ground as CO2 snow. That is the basis for the official historical position that the large polar cap ice masses and other ice masses must be CO2 rather than water ice.
Now, depending on pressure conditions and temperature sustained duration, CO2 here on Earth can freeze out of the air at as low as –70.6º F. or –57º C. at sustained temperature even though a block of CO2 dry ice here normally has a temperature of –109.3º F. or –78.5º C. In comparison, water vapor freezes out at a mere (note no minus sign) 32º F. or 0º C. Now, because of Mars pressure differences (it was 8.29 on Sol 22), the Mars freezing point temperatures will also be different but not likely that much different. Therefore it is reasonable to make rough general comparisons between Earth and Mars.
So why is this important? The Phoenix Lander, by their own official historical position, has theoretically plopped down in one of the coldest regions on Mars. If we are to believe that the Lander is where it is suppose to be and also if we are to believe the previous instrument temperature data extremes and the current Phoenix weather station figures, it is so cold there that CO2 freezes out and the metal of the Lander itself could be adversely affected. Further, the ground could be expected to be as hard frozen as iron figuratively speaking. A warm spell or seasonal warming trend might get warm enough for CO2 ice to evaporate (sublimate) away directly to a gas but not water ice.
Now remember those Phoenix onboard weather station figures in the beginning paragraph above. That data indicates that the temperature on Mars Sol 22 for a daily warming trend did not get above –25.6º F. or –32º C and these temperatures are fairly consistent from day to day according to the onboard weather station. Further, that is not any sustained temperature conditions but only a brief daily spike to that point and sustained temperature conditions would be a fair amount colder than these maximum daily figures. Note that any of these figures are a very long way from 32º F. or 0º C. that it takes to freeze water here on Earth at sea level.
Yet the official reason given for the Phoenix water ice discovery is that the ice disappeared from the dug trench demonstrating melt and/or evaporation. If it did that, then obviously the general temperature in the Phoenix Lander's North Polar environment on Mars would logically have to be somewhere in the general neighborhood of 32º F. or 0º C. Here's the serious inconsistency. How does water ice melt or evaporate when the temperature around the Phoenix Lander never got warmer than –25.6º F. or –32º C. and sustained temperatures would have been even lower than that?
Obviously, if the water ice did melt or evaporate, then the temperature logically had to be a lot warmer than –25.6º F. or –32º C. and that would make the weather station data wrong. Can we trust the weather station data to be correct? If so, then there was no melt or evaporation of the water ice and that claim is not true. You can't have your cake and eat it too as the saying goes.
I suspect that the truth is that the water ice and favorable soil nutrient claims are true but are only a tiny amount of information previously decided upon to publicly release and not the result of whether water ice melted in this trench or not. It's just information carelessly manipulated for public release resulting in the inconsistencies revealed here. I suspect that the weather station data is also manipulated and not representative of Mars truth. I suspect that Mars is cold but warm enough to support the kind of vast bio-life I see around on its surface and the surface water sites in a liquid state I will be releasing in the upcoming book confirm my temperature considerations.
For example, with such official extreme temperatures, some naive scientist, swallowing the official line, computer modeling predicted frozen conditions in the form of permafrost extending down into the Mars mantel as much as 3-miles. Yet, now we're just suppose to ignore these official temperature considerations and believe....what ? You know how the saying goes, it's a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive! It's hard for them to keep all their stories and data lined up with each other.
Just to show you how far such a warmer than expected temperature scenario and its implication goes, such general temperatures warm enough to melt and/or evaporate Mars water ice are mild enough to support a whole raft of different life here on Earth. Further, we're talking about the Mars North Polar region and not the mid areas of the planet where temperatures can be expected to be much milder than at or near the poles. Of course there is still that pesky 95.32% carbon dioxide atmosphere that is lethally poisonous to most life as we know it stumbling block.
Likewise, look at the Phoenix's dug trench first image above again but more closely. Note the easily crumbling soil at the edges of the trench as though this light duty backhoe arm was digging cleanly in warmer soil of the USA dessert southwest cutting through it like a hot knife through soft butter. Does that look like super hard frozen soil to you and especially soil infused with water ice? Do you think that super hard frozen soil would physically cut so cleanly and behave so cooperatively in this manner with no cracking or heaving? If we assume that we are looking at soil on Mars, it obviously is not super hard frozen. The FBI would call that a clue.
On the surface, I suspect that the Phoenix mission with the public face we're seeing is about releasing certain information decided upon earlier before Phoenix ever left Earth for Mars. What we're doing is watching the dangling birdie while the other hand is coming in low and about something else. Now we know what the public message is for public, media, science, and academic consumption. It's not just about water ice and soil nutrients capable of supporting life, it's about moving a prevailing paradigm mindset in a new direction.
If we just ignore the temperature inconsistencies, next something will have to be done about that pesky oh so poisonous and suffocatingly lethal 95.32% CO2 atmosphere with only tiny traces nitrogen, oxygen and water vapor needed by life as we know it. Wonder what they're going to do about that? Was that all a dream that we'll collectively wake up from?
Okay enough of my expounding on that subject. Let's get on with some other miscellaneous visual Phoenix evidence as follows. Some of these are interesting and even telling. Further, although I cannot know who the true first discoverers are, they are all finds brought to my attention by viewers and not my own original discoveries.
The above second and third images is evidence brought to my attention by Ginés Morales of Spain. This evidence demonstrates the after the fact but still relatively fresh presence of some liquid flowing out from under the Lander body strong enough to leave a clear path across the soil and pool in the spot you see partially in shadow before freezing and/or evaporating away.
Now that we have the official support of water ice presence in this Mars terrain, it is not too fantastic to speculate that this is more than likely water ice melted by the heat of the underside of the Lander and/or its decent braking thrusters causing the strong but temporary liquid flow. Now if the backhoe arm will just reach over and scoop up some of this in that pooling spot, we'll really have some water evidence. Surely they would do so assuming they know that it is there.
The above fourth image is evidence brought to my attention by Araujo, J. P. Sandaçðes of Brazil. As you can see, the single object pointed out by the white arrows appears to be the top portion of a partially buried humanoid looking skull visible only from the eye sockets upward. Note what appear to be parallel ridges on our left side of the top of the skull's forehead. We can't of course know for sure what this is but it we can clearly see what it appears to be.
However, if we assume for the moment that it is a skull and if we assume that the ridges are a true part of the skull and not geological or other material that has become attached to it, this has the look of what we might imagine a Klingon (from the Star Trek TV series and movies) skull might look like with forehead ridges. Now this just an exercise in conjecture, so don't go putting out sensationalized statements like Skipper finds evidence of Klingons on Mars! If you do, I'll have to come back and haunt after I'm gone.
On the other hand, putting conjecture and humor aside, this object clearly has the look of a partially buried human or humanoid head skull and there is no denying that. Therefore, I would be remiss if I did not bring this one to your attention.
The above fifth image is evidence first brought to my attention by Paul Pazzaglini, President of P&L International here in the USA and also literally at the same time by a party in Germany wishing to remain anonymous. As you can see this larger partially buried smooth cylindrical object stands out big time among the rocks in the terrain and is very easy to notice. That's because the terrain geology around it is rough with many irregular rough shapes while the object itself is very round and very smooth.
Those contacting me about this object were asking me what I thought it might be. As I told them then and as I'm observing now, to me this object at first looks like the female end of a large clay hard ceramic coated pipe that carries liquids and is normally buried in the ground. In fact, there are a number of things that it could be including a gas cylinder or even an aircraft engine, etc. However, of all the things I can think of, every last one is something of artificial manufacture and nothing from natural geology comes to mind. I think that is significant and so should you.
RECAP
What does all this interesting miscellaneous evidence tell us? I will not belabor the obvious here. However, for one thing, one has to ask why the Phoenix science teams here on Earth apparently find none of this evidence either interesting or significant? If they are simply missing this evidence, just how does one do this when it their paid job as experts to find and take note of such anomalous evidence and bring it into critical professional review? From the public who pays the bills point of view, their job isn't to dismiss this kind of anomalous evidence but to fully engage it and bring it to the public's attention who's exploration property it really is.
I admittedly do not pay that much attention to the currently popular Phoenix science data for reasons I've already alluded to. That's one reason why you don't find my name on these discoveries. But, why must decent intriguing discoveries like these come from the sharp eyed alert private individuals here in the USA as well as in Brazil, Germany, Spain, and elsewhere but never a peep out of the Phoenix mission team professionals. Are they blind or just can't see? Is geology all they can see? Even if they don't have answers, the mystery element associated with this alone makes it worth their reporting.
Have our scientists lost it so much that they can only pay attention to what ever evidence supports the safe, comfortable, and approved peer consensus? Are they so arrogant as to believe that science data like this is their property and that they can decide for us what is of interest to us and what is not? Are there no individual scientists capable of thinking outside the peer-prescribed box and bucking the peer tide? Are they all just blind followers sucking away on the taxpayer dole? Is that all we're paying them for?
Okay I'll shut up but meanwhile someone had better wake up and smell the coming change on the wind.
DOCUMENTATION
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/239391main_S_010EFF_CYL_SR01038_RAAAM1.jpg: This link takes you to the official science data image that my report images #2 and #3 on the liquid flow and pooling evidence is sourced from. Note that this is an unusual cylindrical projection image.
http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/images.php?gID=6440&cID=67: This link takes you to the official science data image that my report image #4 skull evidence is sourced from. Note that there is more than one image with this skull evidence in it but this is one of the better ones.
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/341747main_S_013EFF_CYL_SR11E1C_L111M4.jpg: This link takes you to the official science data image that my report image #5 smooth cylindrical object evidence is sourced from. This is a larger file mosaic image providing a wider area view of the terrain this object is located in. The object is in the mid area of the image just slightly left of center.
http:// phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/images/gallery/lg_3840.jpg: This link also takes you to the official science data image that my report image #5 smooth cylindrical object evidence is sourced from. The difference between this and the previous link is that this one is to the single raw image with the object in the lower left corner and without the wider area context view.
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