The beauty with conspiracy theories is that we have the freedom to choose to believe them or not. A discriminating mind is able to judge whether some seemingly far-fetched evidence is real or whether it is a hoax. Ideally, that should not be a matter of choice. But often the evidence we are presented is of such an unbelievable nature that only the most liberated thinker can accept it as truth in the face of all objection to the contrary. You see, there is that element from the extreme right which holds sway over much of what we purport to call free thought. That huge and influential segment of the population is unwilling to entertain thoughts that there are civilizations in this Universe that do not have their origins on this world and that the people of those other worlds have the same innate propensity for exploration and discovery as we do and that in some cases they may even have crossed paths with our world in the process.
If the evidence comes from NASA in the form of images taken from an orbiting space craft and if NASA can confirm that they are unretouched and in their original format then we must prepare ourselves to experience a not too subtle reality check. Such evidence exists. Hundreds of thousands of images exist of the moon taken by unmanned satellites and by the astronauts on the Apollo spacecraft while awaiting the return of the astronauts from the surface. There are many which contain anomalous features which any enthusiastic UFO buff could describe as alien structures and are no doubt natural formations created by forces not always completely understood but there is evidence presented by an artifact in one location on the dark side of the moon which is more than just compelling and thought provoking. It is irrefutable.
Trapped in a crater and half buried by history lies what to any untrained observer appears to be a spaceship. It might be described as cigar-shaped. It is definitely not natural. The object was first detected by the Apollo 15 crew in 1971 as the command module passed over the Delporte region on the side turned away from the Earth.
Such is my desire for the undisputed truth that I cannot allow myself to take seriously reports of a secret Apollo 20 mission to the moon in 1976 to investigate the artifact. However, I will not discount that it is possible. The ostensible details of the purported mission are revealed in an amusing skeptics' site called Galaxiki, from which I have lifted a couple of the images on this post.
The original Apollo 15 image can be viewed at the Universities Space Research Association's affiliated website, the Lunar Planetary Institute. The image is given the mundane title AS15-P-9625. The object in question can clearly be seen when the image is panned to the right.
Of course this was considered to be a most intriguing site and subsequent passes were made over the area by other Apollo missions and lunar orbiting satellites. Improved photographic instruments and electronic photo enhancement reveal that this is no optical illusion.
Actual video of the Apollo mission flyovers are available for viewing on line. Additional images taken by Apollo 15 and 17 of the site can be found on the relevent pages at the Lunar Planetary Institute's site. Prepare to do some searching.
The web, as a rich resource of information, is bound to cause NASA and other government bodies to eventually rethink their policies regarding the dissemination of what they might consider to be sensitive information. I strongly believe that the public has a right to know developments generated by publicly funded organizations. I believe this right to be inherent and without restriction.
Monday, March 17, 2008
If it's from NASA, it must be true
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Spelunking on Mars
NASA'a Mars Odyssey spacecraft is the only Mars probe able to detect anomalous features on the red planet using thermal imaging techniques. It has been in orbit around Mars since 2001.
Temperature differences occurring during different times of day can be gauged by the instruments aboard the craft. There is in general a significant and immediate drop in surface temperature just before sunset. Close examination of thermal images indicate that there are localised areas best described as holes on the surface of the planet in the order of a few hundred meters in diameter that see only a fractional drop in temperature and which exhibit circular patterns of warmth at night in contrast with the surrounding surface. They also exhibit cooler temperatures during the day than the surrounding surface. The information suggests that they are deep holes in the ground. Seven of these openings have been found at high altitudes on a volcano called Arsia Mons near Mars' tallest mountain. It is thought that these are actual skylights into underground caverns deep in the mountain.
Because of their location at high altitude it would be impractical to explore these cave entrances using probes or human explorers but their presence on the volcano suggests that there may be more of these strange features at lower elevations and to that end a search has begun to locate them.
That these holes are an important discovery is an understatement. The subsurface of Mars contains linear rifts, or fault lines, as evidenced by what appear to be depressions best described as sink holes that follow distinctly linear patterns and these indicate large spaces in the composition of the crust. There could be any number of geological processes that might have created those underground caverns.
I have posted a few articles that support the idea of the existence of oil in Mars. That is not so far-fetched. All the oil in Earth is found at depths which are devoid of oxygen. One theory of the origins of oil propose that an anaerobic microbial fungal mold digests the iron in the substrata of the earth's crust producing oil as a waste product. The empty caverns of oil wells in Texas have been found to be collecting oil which is running down the cavern walls and gathering in pools at the bottom. Therefore oil production is an on-going process on this planet. The Russian space station Mir was abandoned because of the presence of a fungus that invaded the station's interior and replicated beyond control. The results of a space shuttle project led by researchers from Arizona State University’s Biodesign Institute indicate that bacteria encouraged to grow in space were almost three times as likely to cause disease as their Earth-bound counterpart. This lends support to the notion that the vacuum of space does not present a barrier to microbial migration if they are sheltered in comet or asteroid. I believe that the production of oil in the Earth precedes the emergence of oxygen in the atmosphere which led to the evolution of life on the surface and that the presence of those anaerobic bacteria that produces oil originated from space. Mars therefore has an equal chance of harboring great oil pools in its crust. And this would naturally lead to the creation of large caverns where the iron content has been consumed. Mars is an iron rich planet.
We should add spelunking to the exploration duties of future Mars colonists.
