[bdjackass318]

Someone alert Ziggy Stardust, there appear to be spiders on Mars.
Strange black objects seen from 200 miles above the surface of Mars are generating interest and speculation that the unidentified objects could be anything from geysers to sunbathing colonies of microorganisms.
NPR presents several photos of the objects, including one taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on Jan. 27, 2010, that appears to show "little black flecks dotting the ridges, mostly on the sunny side, like sunbathing spiders sitting in rows."
The objects were first spotted in 1998. Interestingly, they appear when the surface of Mars begins to warm, showing up in the same location most of the time. And then when the Martian winter approaches, they disappear with the same precise regularity. The images have been brought into greater detail by Michael Benson in his book "Planetfall: New Solar System Visions."
Most scientists, including teams from the U.S. Geological Survey, Hungary and the European Space Agency, have their own theories, but the leading explanation is that the objects are geysers of CO2 exploding from underneath the planet's surface.
"If you were there, you'd be standing on a slab of carbon dioxide ice," Phil Christensen of Arizona State University told NPR. "All around you, roaring jets of carbon dioxide gas are throwing sand and dust a couple hundred feet into the air. The ground below would be rumbling. You'd feel it in your space boots."
And while the geyser theory is the most popular explanation, it has yet to be verified.
In the meantime, there are some interesting alternative theories, including one from a group of Hungarian scientists, who have speculated that the objects are actually colonies of photosynthetic Martian microorganisms that emerge each year to sunbathe in the warm weather.

[bdjackass318]

Well i guess it was too much to ask if the rover they just sent up there to go and take a closer look at these mysterious objects .I for one would sure like to know what these things are.

[Kanda444]

i would too... some look like smoke or something rising up... volcanic activity, maybe?

[Kanda444]

you might find this interesting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martian_geyser

[kellyhound]

im going for the geyser explanation

[wujuan]

kinda looks like the word "om".

[dizzydusk]

If you look at volcanic activity or geysers from weather satellites from earth, they look nothing like the photos from mars. Looks like mold to me. I would go with the microorganism theory. Definitely not photosynthetic though because most of the black stuff is in the shadows. Rovers travel extremely slow it would take decades to reach the destination. Curiosity travels 300 ft an hour. I would drive slow if I was driving a billion dollar car as well.

[ices]

Things that resemble spiders and look a decent size from 200 miles up.

Lets hope they dont know we humans are here until Johnny Rico is with us.

[Rfneimad]

Spice bloom

[zombie-rot420]

Starship Troopers isn't so science FICTION anymore eh?