curiosity MAHLI Anomalies-1

CURIOSITY'S MAHLI ANOMALIES-1

Report 235

July 4, 2014

The evidence presented here is sourced from the MSL MAHLI (Mars Hand Lens Imager) system onboard the Curiosity rover. So remember that the scale of the imaging here is small.

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/msss/00585/mhli/0585MH000660000202459R00_DXXX.jpg
If it doesn't work go to http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw
In the MAHLI list there choose Sol 585 and then choose the
17th horizontal row of thumbnails & the last image on the right.

This brief report has just a few images. The evidence above is not obvious nor is it conclusive but rather it is something more in need of further investigation than anything else. After all, considering what the MSL Curiosity rover's publicly stated exploration goals are supposed to be, the evidence brought to attention here may be subtle but it is important and deserving of a much more careful look than it may have gotten consistent with the publicly stated purpose.

One of Curiosity's goals is obviously to look for water on Mars and particularly surface water. The above MAHLI images appear to me to show evidence of a shallow flat surface liquid pooling at the same level in the several small troughs of the lower right quarter of the image. A characteristic of placid liquids not subject to turbulence is to seek their own level. Note that it appears to be doing this in three different shallow troughs here as the MAHLI camera view ascends upward from the left lower corner in the image despite the separation of three different parallel and intervening low but more elevated rock barriers.

Note in the lower right corner of the 3rd image how the ground is littered with many small spherical's or pebbles that seem to submerge down out of sight in the liquid or mud's smooth flat surface as the view moves upward to the bottom edge of a small rock barrier. It's nearly the same with the slightly larger trough immediately above it. The self leveling finely grained particulates behave as though influenced by a liquid either still present or more likely previously present and now creating an obscuring drying mud which has engulfed and covered many rocks and pebbles burying them under its flat smooth surface.

It is true that the action of wind will move small particulates like sand etc. around but the tendency is for the solid particulate surface patterns to often be pronounced and for the particulate to pile up against barriers. Note that none of this "piling effect" behavior is present here. The smooth areas show that the particulates are self leveling and filling every little nook and trough forming a self leveling shoreline in miniature on the rock barriers. In other words, the behavior of a fluid or liquid carried substance in the present or recent past.

Of course the presence of a surface liquid does not necessarily mean water and it could mean some other substance that is fluid. However, water would still be a strong possibility that needs to be considered and Curiosity's instruments should be able to determine what it is by testing. Yet it doesn't appear that this potential in this small spot has been explored in this way by anyone running the Curiosity show. Why?

Now like I say, the evidence presented here is not obvious and is subtle and might be understandably overlooked. So, if the Curiosity science team has simply overlooked it, they deserve no real criticism. Flawless perfection is not an expectation.

On the other hand, once pointed out as done here and if they do nothing further about it, then it becomes an expanding issue raising a question like is there a difference between the publicly stated Curiosity goals and some other agenda being pursued here that we are unaware of? Is someone just going through the motions on the publicly stated goals but pursuing some other agenda on Mars unknown to us? Are we being played in order to loosen our purse strings to finance the exploration of this and other worlds thinking we're accomplishing something for all when we are actually just blindly feeding some few's secrete goals?

Now please understand that I support space exploration where we can afford it and the investment in the good developmental and exploration work of Earth scientists well exampled by the excellent Curiosity mission. What I find difficult to support is the all encompassing secrecy that seems to always dog these efforts and keep general populations suppressed of often important essential knowledge and thereby miring us in ignorance. As a world, we need the truth!

For example, what if what we are seeing here is not real but imaging manipulation actually from Earth and because of that key mission scientist in the know have no interest in pursuing something like this small surface water issue deeper? Is that is what is going on here? Are we being fed more and more make believe supporting only general population ignorance? If so, it just guarantees a rough confrontation in the end when the secrecy falls apart as all secrecy ultimately will.

, Investigator