Wooden plank found on Mars - debunked

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December 1, 4:13 PM

by Patricia Phillips, Space News Examiner

 

This composite photo, taken by the Mars rover Opportunity in 2004, keeps resurfacing described as  a photo showing a wooden plank found on Mars. Look to the left side, just above the black rectangle shape.

What the heck are you looking at? NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) describes the panoramic image:

This cylindrical-projection view combines several frames from the navigation camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. The rover acquired these frames during its 115th martian day, or "sol," in the Meridiani Planum region of Mars, on May 21, 2004. The rover was near the edge of "Endurance Crater," which dominates the right half of this view. The crater is about 130 meters (about 430 feet) in diameter.

This photo suddenly got hot again in discussions of strange-looking Mars photos. Over at Universe Today, writer Nancy Atkinson tackled the seemingly-mysterious photo.

Over the long holiday weekend, Universe Today was flooded with emails from readers who asked us to comment on an image taken by the Opportunity rover that appears to show a plank of wood laying on the surface of Mars...

...Since the image appears to have caused a bit of excitement across the internet recently, I decided to contact Dr. Jim Bell from Cornell University, who is also the lead scientist for the Panoramic cameras on the rovers. Bell was surprised to hear from me about the image, but happy to offer some insight....

"What you're seeing is a piece of flat, platy, layered sulfur-rich outcrop rock like we've seen almost everywhere the Opportunity rover has been in Meridiani Planum," said Bell. "Sometimes, like in this case, those flat, platy rocks have been tilted or dislodged, this one probably from the forces associated with the huge impact crater that formed nearby."

Atkinson also lays out the reasons that she believes the "NASA found a wooden plank on Mars" photo has been thoroughly explained. Among the key issues: NASA wouldn't hide such an incredible find.

NASA is a government agency struggling to build a new rocket, return to the Moon, go to  Mars, and  keep working on the space station. The challenges also include  maintaining and improving all the other NASA programs, from weather satellites to Mars rovers to deep space missions, while developing new missions and scientific studies. 

To hide an incredible find like a wooden plank on Mars would be well, incredibly stupid. NASA needs money. It  faces an uncertain future in a recession and under the leadership President-Elect Barack Obama, who originally wanted to slash NASA funds. What the future holds in terms of funding and support for NASA is anyone's guess at this point.

However,  if NASA came up with evidence of a prior civilization or visitation on Mars, the funds would roll in. I've attended Senate hearings on NASA programs and funding. Convincing Congress to give NASA more than a shoestring to run on is hard, hard work. 

Bottom line? The "wooden plank on Mars" photo is a great shot.  When I first saw it, I thought "Wow! That looks like a piece of wood." Then I thought "Wow! What a interesting-looking rock."

I'm convinced the photo shows a rock, just as the scientists say. That's just one opinion, of course.

What do you think?

Somehow, we may be missing the most amazing thing at all.  As  someone who remembers  when getting an unmanned satellite aloft was a huge accomplishment, and sending men to the moon stopped the world in its tracks, the idea that we have robots routinely snapping pictures on Mars is pretty incredible.

The facts of our accomplishments in space are, I think, far better than any fiction. 

Image credit: NASA/JPL

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