APOD: A Mars Panorama from the Phoenix Lander (2011 Mar 13)

[Doum]

Hello all,

I doubt if anyone is still interested in this photo at this time, but I'm still not convinced that the trail 'behind' the rock was made by the exhausts:

Why has only one of the many rocks in that area been affected?
Why is the trail crooked and not straight?
Why is the trail so well defined and not showning signs of blast marks, if it was caused by the exhaust?
Is anyone else given this some thought, or is it just me?

Just a thought

Cheers

djj01

That rock might have been right under the nozzle of the rocket. So being push by the exhaust of the rocket engine it fly a bit then fell on the ground(larger crater) and then finish rolling. The rock not being a perfect sphere, it roll and turn following its center of gravity and then stop after burying itself in the ground. Also, the crater may have been erode a bit by the exhaust nozzle as the spacecraft get closer to the ground. That seem plausible to me. Or it might have been move by the robotic arm? I know, it's a lot of may have or may be. But it look logic to me.

[Maat]

This lander should by in the Cydonia region, photographing the "Rosetta Stone"--the pentagonal D&M pyramid.

[rstevenson]

Cydonia, Rosetta Stone, pentagonal D&M pyramid???