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Text: Vientiane hardcore
Edited by Vientiane hardcore
«——【Preamble】】 ——»
In November 2011, the United States sent its own Mars rover, Curiosity, into outer space. This series of Mars rovers can be said to have made great contributions to the study of Mars in the United States, for example, it has detected Gale impact craters that may have been lakes before, found stones suspected to have been naturally eroded by water currents, and even found dry sand containing 2% water.
But this time, the latest photos from it are even more surprising: it is said to have collected traces of a suspected cobra, which may have lived for more than 3 billion years!
People have never once suspected the existence of life on Mars, but it has never occurred to them that there are snakes on Mars, which is simply unbelievable!
So, what's the truth? Is there really a snake or is it just a human optical illusion? If not, what is it?
«—[Curiosity's New Discovery—Martian Cobra·]—»
Curiosity is a Mars rover developed by the United States, and its mission is to find traces of life on Mars.
In May 2022, several screenshot photos of the latest discovery of several "Curiosity" exploded on social media, and many netizens continued to discuss it.
The cause was the discovery that one of the photographs showed two strangely shaped sand yellow unidentified objects. There are many unidentified objects on Mars, so why are these two particularly eye-catching?
"It looked like two dead branches with crooked necks, and there was no shadow of it. ”
"Oh my God, it's a cobra! Look at the tall object, the top of it doesn't look like a snake's head, and the way it twists and looks up really looks like a cobra with a swollen neck and angry!"
Don't say it, don't look at it, I don't know, this look at them and cobras are really 8% similar, could it be that they are really cobras?
Everyone knows how strong the survival ability of this creature is, and the dinosaurs are extinct, and they are not extinct. So anything is possible.
The first few screenshots were released by NASA, but when the images were enlarged, it was revealed that the two unidentified objects appeared to be emerging from the surface of Mars from the bottom up.
As you can see from the pictures, there are stones underneath and near the two unidentified objects, and there is also sand around them, which seems to be weathered dry tree trunks.
But on the whole, it looks like two cobras perched on the edge of the stone pile, looking up at the beautiful picture of the sunset, which reminds the editor of the plot of the little prince planting roses on the planet B612 to watch the sunset.
However, some people believe that they may be fossils that resemble cobras.
But there is no actual evidence to prove this, and it is difficult to say what it is by relying on just a few pictures.
Will it be a higher animal or plant body?
To say that they are dry branches is actually unlikely, at least not on Mars, which has been detected by humans so far.
Although the surface of Mars is the same as the Earth, there are various terrains such as plains and mountains, but it is basically in a desert-like desolate state, full of sand, gravel, and gravel.
Obviously, the temperature and soil environment on the surface of Mars are not suitable for plants to take root and grow. You might say that cacti don't grow well in the desert?
Plant growth depends on nutrients in the soil, abundant photosynthetic respiration from the outside, and abundant water.
Although nutrients needed for plant growth have also been found in Martian soil, some of them are very different from Earth's soil, and they are not suitable for plant growth.
Moreover, the oxygen in the Martian atmosphere is minimal, the air dioxide is overwhelming, and the air pressure density is extremely small, so it is obvious that plants cannot complete basic respiration on Mars, let alone grow into branches.
Even though it was later discovered that liquid water appeared on Mars, this water source was intermittent and could not meet the normal growth needs of plants.
So, based on the current data analysis alone, plants cannot survive on Mars, and they will not be animal bodies. In particular, creatures like snakes, which are very picky about their environmental needs, cannot survive.
The two unidentified objects obviously wouldn't be dry twigs, nor would they be cobras.
Could it be a cobra fossil?
If it is said that it is a fossil, according to the thinking of ordinary people, it is still a certain possibility, but for scientists, the probability that they are fossils is relatively low, and even maintain a negative attitude.
Most fossils are solid objects that have been buried underground after undergoing changes, and are formed through a long period of sedimentation, unless they are revealed after some major geological changes.
If it is a fossil, then there must be a real object that can become a fossil, like Mars, where the air pressure is extremely low and there is nothing, it is basically difficult for organisms to survive, so how can fossils be said?
In fact, when scientists were studying Mars, they found that Mars may have had a glorious moment of business like Earth.
At the site where Curiosity landed, radial ridges resembling Earth-shaped rivers were discovered.
In addition, scientists have found a lot of evidence that there was a large amount of water on the surface of Mars, and there is even a huge layer of ocean water sediment.
They also found that when Mars is warm, there will be liquid salt water, and Zhurong also found a lithified plate-like crust in its landing area, which has been tested to contain water minerals.
But compared to Earth, the lively scene of Mars was short-lived.
For some reason, the air pressure on Mars will decrease, and the water resources will gradually disappear.
Therefore, it is difficult to say whether there were organisms on Mars during that period, and if they did, it was very likely to become animal fossils.
But since it is a fossil, even if it is bare surface, most of them appear in a flat embedded posture, like the snake fossils found in ancient times found in China, after historical changes, some structures are not even complete.
But the fossils in the picture are not only three-dimensional, but also very vivid, and such a perfect shape cannot be an animal fossil.
What's more, the place where the fossils were found had almost no more violent geological activity more than 3 billion years ago. So this unidentified object would not be a cobra fossil.
What could this unidentified object be?
In the opinion of scientists, it is more likely that this is weathered rock.
Because there is no solid evidence that life actually existed on Mars, the possibility that they are fossils of life is not considered for the time being. Since it is not innate, it may be acquired.
According to scientists, after a multi-faceted analysis by Curiosity, it was determined that it was just a strange rock formed by the chemical and physical action of Martian sediments.
The climate on Mars is very dry and cold, sometimes with large dust storms or hurricanes covering the entire volcanic body for a month.
Under the impact of strong winds, the physical phenomenon of sand particles falling off and being transported and piled up elsewhere on the surface of some large rocks is often referred to as wind erosion.
Under the action of physics and chemistry, the rock has undergone morphological changes, and the so-called "cobra" is only a remnant of the rock after it has been eroded by the wind.
In fact, this is not the first time that such an "oolong" has appeared, and there have been many such "beautiful misunderstandings" before.
For example, the "Martian face" formed by an ordinary hill was photographed at the earliest, the "Martian lizard" photographed in 2013, the white spherical material resembling a mushroom photographed in 2021, and the "Martian Gate" photographed in 2022.
In fact, these are weathered skeuomorphic rocks, but visually it gives people a very novel feeling, and now look at the two "cobras" are not like stones?
It's easy to guess about pictures like this, but everyone subconsciously thinks that what appears on Mars should be unusual, as if trying to prove that Mars is alive.
For example, in 2023, it will also be photographed on Mars, with many rocks shaped like fish bone spurs, and its lines are too real and smooth, and it really looks like animal fossils left over from the ocean.
But there is no definite evidence for this, and we will wait patiently and hope that one day these similar questions will be answered.
«——【·Conclusion·】——»
The universe is mysterious, and scientists' exploration of the planets in the universe is endless.
Whether it is Curiosity or other rovers, they bring us not only a visual impact experience, but also an important medium for us to slowly unravel the mystery of Mars.
Reference: British Daily Mail/Global Network "Dare to say that there are no aliens? "Curiosity" Mars found this thing" 2017-6-29