NASA Orbiter Finds Possible Cave Skylights on Mars

[icave]

NASA Orbiter Finds Possible Cave Skylights on Mars
09.21.07

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft has discovered entrances to seven possible caves on the slopes of a Martian volcano. The find is fueling interest in potential underground habitats and sparking searches for caverns elsewhere on the Red Planet.

Very dark, nearly circular features ranging in diameter from about 100 to 250 meters (328 to 820 feet) puzzled researchers who found them in images taken by NASA's Mars Odyssey and Mars Global Surveyor orbiters. Using Mars Odyssey's infrared camera to check the daytime and nighttime temperatures of the circles, scientists concluded that they could be windows into underground spaces.

See the full article at: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/odyssey/odyssey-20070921.html

[Bat]

I saw this and iit brought me here for the first time in a long time. Exciting! What do you guys think?

[Martin Sluka]

I saw this and iit brought me here for the first time in a long time. Exciting! What do you guys think?

There are many features on Mars which LOOKS AS the karst features on Earth - blind valleys, sinkholes, pits, etc. But most of them are evidently filled by dust. Several pits are not! And this is the most interesting!

Compare lava caves at Saudy Arabia - pits in the middle of sandy desert. Not filled by sand. (Thanks Jut.)

http://www.saudicaves.com/lava/introobl.htm

m.