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June 7, 2011
A space station on mars?
While this can almost certainly be chalked up to photographic noise or perhaps some strange colored rocks, an armchair astronomer has found an interesting structure while using Mars mode in Google Earth.
David Martines was randomly flying around Mars in Google Earth when he noticed the structure on the planet. He then created a YouTube video showing it off, and the video has racked up over 700,000 views!
[UPDATE: The video has been removed from YouTube, though we don't know why.]
Of course, none of this would even be possible if it wasn't for the excellent Mars feature that Google added as part of Google Earth 5.
To access Mars mode in Google Earth, simply click the planet icon at the top of the screen, and choose "Mars" from the dropdown, as shown here:
To view the "space station" on Mars, simply download this KML file
and it will take you there.
What do you think the object could be?
Posted by mickmel at June 7, 2011 8:14 AM
Comments
Posted by: Justinf at June 7, 2011 8:42 AM
I find the uncritical baloney in the reporting about this as repulsive as this guy's assumptions. Most of all I wouldn't even call him "armchair astronomer" - he's not an astronomer by any stretch of the definition whatsoever. He's just a guy with Google Earth. Astronomers are scientists. Scientists wouldn't jump to ridiculous conclusions that defy Occam's Razor (it's a space station!) based on nothing but a small bunch of pixels that could be anything.
Posted by: Markus at June 7, 2011 10:41 AM
Clearly this is a real, functioning space station. What else could it possibly be?
Posted by: I believe at June 7, 2011 11:34 AM
It is where they do the filming for the fake moon landings
Posted by: Frank Mcaree at June 7, 2011 11:34 AM
"I can't tell whether this image was taken by Viking or what," McEwen said. "The people at Google need to document what the heck they're doing. They should be able to identify what the source of their information is, and let people know so they can go back and look at the raw data."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43299687/ns/technology_and_science-science/
Posted by: b. at June 7, 2011 11:37 AM
To me it looks like the Mars Express satellite. Unless you can get a real-time video of Mars, there is going to be occasional photo captures of the three man-made satellites currently orbiting Mars.
Posted by: BDS at June 7, 2011 12:02 PM
It's pixelation in the image. At that altitude and resolution, everything is very blurry, except these obvious "squares" linked together. Google Moon has the same errors.
Posted by: Wesley S. at June 7, 2011 12:08 PM
It is too structured to be just a digital glitch. The main question is as to whether it is a scam or not and who the perpetrator is-plenty of publicity for GOOGLE and the SPACE program in any case.
Posted by: Richard Krista at June 8, 2011 1:19 AM
It is raster image. The height and resolution, everything is very vague, apart from these obvious "square" connected. Google Moon has the same error.
Posted by: Paultons at June 8, 2011 7:24 AM
Maybe it is just a phantom settlement, made-up by Google employees to identify copyright infringements.
If someone copies maps and claims it is not stolen, then one can prove that the stolen maps contain the same errors.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_trap#Maps
Posted by: Freddi at June 8, 2011 1:46 PM
Mouse-Brains! It either Does not exist or is a sattelite!
Posted by: brian at June 8, 2011 11:00 PM
Google should add more HiRISE image strips to GE(Mars) - preferable the RGB strips instead of the IRB ones currently included in GE.
Posted by: MPJ at June 15, 2011 3:11 PM
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NOTE: Please use English. Comments are moderated.
It's "astronomer", not astrologist.
Astrologists do hocus pocus horoscopes. Astronomers actually study space.