NASA On Moving Mars Rocks

11:51 am EST January 9th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 6 Comments

martian manhunterApparently there are some odd rock formations on Mars, and NASA is explaining them.

Here’s what they think happens: Wind removes loose sand in front of the rocks, creating pits there and depositing that sand behind the rocks, creating mounds. The rocks then roll forward into the pits, moving into the wind. As long as the wind continues to blow, the process is repeated and the rocks move forward.

The rocks protect the tiny sand mounds from wind erosion. Those piles of sand, in turn, keep the rocks from being pushed downwind and from bunching up with one another.

‘You get this happening five, 10, 20 times then you start to really move these things around,’ Pelletier said. ‘They can move many times their diameter.’

Does anyone buy this? Wind? This is just the latest coverup for NASA about Mars. Clearly, the Martian overlords are preparing a base for their invasion force.

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6 Responses to “NASA On Moving Mars Rocks”

  1. liberalrob says:
    January 9, 2009 at 12:00 pm

    The Sliding Rocks of Racetrack Playa

  2. JWeidner says:
    January 9, 2009 at 12:02 pm

    I, for one, welcome our new martian overlords.

  3. Duros62 says:
    January 9, 2009 at 12:56 pm

    Migration?

  4. Rheinhard says:
    January 9, 2009 at 1:17 pm

    “[...] we’ll be saying a big hello to all intelligent life forms everywhere … and to everyone else out there, the secret is to bang the rocks together, guys.”

    — The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

  5. North of 49 says:
    January 10, 2009 at 2:22 am

    “Preparing a base for their invasion force”. Really? Those rocks are no bigger than a softball (said NASA), so maybe these Overlord dudes are only, say, a couple of centimetres tall.

    Which would be cool, come to think of it. Imagine a fleet of Frisbee-sized flying saucers swooping in on the UN building, tiny lasers firing with little phht-phht-phht sounds, their engines a high-pitched whine like a late-Cretaceous giant mosquito. Whipping in line ahead past startled security guards, banking around corners, the formation spreading out into three-layered vees in the wider corridors, like B-17s over Schweinfurt, leaving tiny pockmarks, blisters, and lurid cursing in their wake.

    They burst into the General Assembly amphitheatre and gather in tight fast-moving swarms, circling high, low, and middle. Someone shouts “Squiddies!”, and the world’s leaders dive behind desks, tables and colleagues for cover. The Secretary-General raises his gavel to bang for order, but a passing saucer burns it out of his hand, then loops, lands on his head, and from its belly noiselessly extends a probe into the top of his skull.

    Ban Ki Moon’s features contort, stiffen, soften, then go slack. His lips move, his larynx twitches. “Ekhkhkh-ggggg-(cough) G-g-g-r-r-e-e-e-t-ings, Earthlings.”

    Pandemonium.

  6. The Reality-Based Dave says:
    January 12, 2009 at 12:32 pm

    liberalrob beat me to it, but I’ll go anyway.

    “Clearly, the Martian overlords are preparing a base for their invasion force.”

    They are already here. Their start-up base is located in Death Valley!
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailing_stones

    Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1hoiHvOeGc