APOD: Ares 3 Landing Site: The Martian... (2015 May 16)

[APOD Robot]

Ares 3 Landing Site: The Martian Revisited

Explanation: This close-up from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's HiRISE camera shows weathered craters and windblown deposits in southern Acidalia Planitia. A striking shade of blue in standard HiRISE image colors, to the human eye the area would probably look grey or a little reddish. But human eyes have not gazed across this terrain, unless you count the eyes of NASA astronauts in the scifi novel The Martian by Andy Weir. The novel chronicles the adventures of Mark Watney, an astronaut stranded at the fictional Mars mission Ares 3 landing site corresponding to the coordinates of this cropped HiRISE frame. For scale Watney's 6-meter-diameter habitat at the site would be about 1/10th the diameter of the large crater. Of course, the Ares 3 landing coordinates are only about 800 kilometers north of the (real life) Carl Sagan Memorial Station, the 1997 Pathfinder landing site.

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[Voyager]

Here is the fictional Carl Sagan Memorial Station from Star Trek Voyager: http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/mem ... -prefix=en

[sunlight]

is this snow or what???

[Chris Peterson]

is this snow or what???

Nothing but sand and rock.

[owlice]

Yay, a HiRISE image!! I find these really beautiful and often think of how wonderful they would be rendered as an oil or acrylic painting.

[Chris Peterson]

There's a subtle axis of structure in this image running from top right to lower left. It is seen in the asymmetrical filling of the craters, and in fine lines most visible in the lower left. I assume this is a consequence of long term prevailing winds. I'm having a hard time figuring out what the illumination angle is here; I suppose that could impact the appearance of this structure.

[Boomer12k]

There's a subtle axis of structure in this image running from top right to lower left. It is seen in the asymmetrical filling of the craters, and in fine lines most visible in the lower left. I assume this is a consequence of long term prevailing winds. I'm having a hard time figuring out what the illumination angle is here; I suppose that could impact the appearance of this structure.

If you look at the top crater, the sand is striated in a near perpendicular angle to the others. Would prevailing winds create such a difference? Maybe the mechanism is different? Maybe how the sand slides into the crater down the sides?
I am thinking "standing sand", and the way it has "settled"... click on the image and look at the large image in magnification. Look at the "webbing" in the middle crater. Reminds me of Ice that has stood for some time, and has settled out. The striations get closer, the further to the up and right of the crater... The top down view, and light angle may make it a little deceptive too. See how it "rumples" near the walls of the crater.
Maybe influence in the structure beneath the sand on the crater floors?
There is very little striation on the surface outside the craters. Hard to tell which why the wind had blown, has it blown "down" the scene, or "across"? There is a crater in the upper middle of the RIGHT EDGE, where there appears to be sand that has spilled into a more shallow crater, and there appears to be a more fluid-like flow. But little or no striation, unless influenced by the surface. The build up in these craters APPEARS to be built up in the lower RIGHT of the craters...a totally different direction from the large craters... This appears to hold true for the rest of the area out side of the craters. I think the deeper sand build up, has "settled". Not blown. Bunching up against "structure" on the crater floors, and getting deeper, the differences being magnified.
And... just a thought....Water waves leave ripples. And when water drains, leaves, or evaporates, those ripples remain...

Plausible?

:---[===] *

[alter-ego]

... I'm having a hard time figuring out what the illumination angle is here; I suppose that could impact the appearance of this structure.

[Ron-Astro Pharmacist]

I have to thank APOD for bringing my attention to "The Martian" book/audio book. It's soon to be a movie too.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3659388/ (if you intend to read it - be careful, the plot is outlined as you scroll down)

I idea of being stranded on Mars isn't new but Andy Weir's version has started off with a clever wit and a much better attention to plans I suspect are pretty close to the truth. It's a little hard to imagine a movie with scenes adapted as journal entries but I hope they can pull it off. So far it works well with the book as it has had me laughing out loud at Mark's sol to sol entries from the follies, which occur in an attempt to live on the desolate planet, but seems so far from it's namesake and the hostility of war. Make me wonder why Greek and Roman names (affiliated with war-like behavior) were chosen as Martian names?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ares

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_(mythology)

Just plain color does raise hackles at times I guess. Certainly not from the standard HiRISE image colors of the MRO. From the standpoint of today's APOD, both image and text, I've been blue'n away.

[Chris Peterson]

It's a little hard to imagine a movie with scenes adapted as journal entries but I hope they can pull it off. So far it works well with the book as it has had me laughing out loud at Mark's sol to sol entries from the follies, which occur in an attempt to live on the desolate planet, but seems so far from it's namesake and the hostility of war.

When I read it I kept thinking about how much I dislike potatoes, and how much trouble I'd be in given his situation. I'd starve.

[TracyQ]

Great book, beautiful image.

[Ron-Astro Pharmacist]

It's a little hard to imagine a movie with scenes adapted as journal entries but I hope they can pull it off. So far it works well with the book as it has had me laughing out loud at Mark's sol to sol entries from the follies, which occur in an attempt to live on the desolate planet, but seems so far from it's namesake and the hostility of war.

When I read it I kept thinking about how much I dislike potatoes, and how much trouble I'd be in given his situation. I'd starve.

I'd be in trouble if the botanist had an infatuation with Mendel's peas and happened to bring some along.

[Ann]

It's a little hard to imagine a movie with scenes adapted as journal entries but I hope they can pull it off. So far it works well with the book as it has had me laughing out loud at Mark's sol to sol entries from the follies, which occur in an attempt to live on the desolate planet, but seems so far from it's namesake and the hostility of war.

When I read it I kept thinking about how much I dislike potatoes, and how much trouble I'd be in given his situation. I'd starve.

I'd be in trouble if the botanist had an infatuation with Mendel's peas and happened to bring some along.

Chris, you can have Ron's peas and my beans. I'll eat your potatoes.

Ann

[Beyond]

Peas, beans and potato's. Yum! Is there any brown gravy?