For years, space agencies like NASA have monitored Mars with an array of instruments, finding new images to add to our understanding of the planet’s surface.
What was discovered in 2001 was something different ... maybe. It was a perfectly square-shaped structure, captured by the Mars Orbiter Camera aboard the Global Surveyor. It is estimated by various independent analysts to be about a mile and a half long on each side.
As to why it took that long to get noticed, it really didn’t. Many in the science knew about it, but it has seen a renaissance of interest lately after podcaster and comedian Joe Rogan retweeted the image recently, commenting, “This is (expletive) WILD,” and then SpaceX founder (among a few other hats) Elon Musk responded, “We should send astronauts to Mars to investigate!”
But hold your horses – or, to be more precise, your nuclear-powered reusable transportation system.
For its part, NASA believes the “square structure” is most likely a natural geological formation created by erosion and tectonic activity, and the sharp angles and geometric appearance are likely a result of how shadows and lighting interact with the rocky terrain, and so is likely a naturally occurring geological feature, not evidence of an artificial structure.
Geology, plus Psychology
“It’s the ‘most likely’ part that has created something of a buzz,” said Doug Wyatt, a longtime member of AAPG and the current chair of the AAPG Astrogeology Committee.
“As a geologist and geophysicist, and pseudo-archaeologist/historian, right angles in nature always pique my interest,” he added.
Bruce Cutright, fellow Astrogeology Committee member and founder and CEO of GeoFrame Energy, said that when he first saw the image, he, too, was curious.
“My interpretation showed a 90-degree intersecting fault or fracture lines, somewhat open, then covered with sand, and the sand subsiding into the open fractures,” he said.
Cutright also headed up the geothermal energy research group at the University of Texas Bureau of Economic Geology, where he also worked within the State of Texas Advanced Resource Recovery Team.
“We want to believe that we are not alone, and seemingly evidence of straight lines, which are rare in nature, reflects the hope from our viewpoint that somewhere, somewhen, other intelligence exists,” said Cutright. “This is the basic human drive to seek mystery; it is the driving force behind every religion in history, and in the world.”
Wyatt, too, while understanding why the mind would gallop in many different directions, taps the breaks on such exuberance.
“As scientists, we must consider Occam’s razor. Is there a geologically plausible context? Is there a trend, cross-cutting relationships, predictable stress and angular motions?” he said.
Damping down the enthusiasm might be difficult, though.
“I believe that there is so much current angst among the public that seeing a potential ‘new’ thing outside of our daily existence brings excitement, maybe even hope. NASA is good at gauging public interest,” Wyatt said.
“This anomaly is along the edge of a crater rim and within the greater image are many arcuate and linear features, most likely dikes. The ‘square’ is, per Occam, most likely a fortuitous assemblage of intersecting dikes, but …” he added, alluding to the larger issue.
That is, of course, the question of: Is there something, someone out there – on Mars or elsewhere?
And, if there is life, what kind of mood will they be in?
“I think much of the current generation of human belief is based on religion, science fiction shows of the 1940s, ‘50s, ‘60s, and ‘70s, and Cold War fears,” said Wyatt. “No one alive today has seen a global climate/geology-altering event, such as a major impact or mega-volcanic eruption, so our fear and interest mental profiles were often set when we were younger. Considering life on other planets, I believe that the prevalent production, discussion, literature, news … all related to aliens visiting Earth, ancient astronauts, wonderful old black and white sci-fi movies, and other information such as this built a human psyche profile most of us have, that interstellar and interplanetary travel is expected.”
Cutright said the search is part romantic, part philosophical.
“Why do we seek other life? Humans are compassionate when allowed to be curious. We taught chimpanzees to use sign language, and we are trying to understand the language of whales, dolphins and elephants. We want to know and to understand other species, to see the world through their eyes and to therefore better understand ourselves. Yes, life on Earth is so amazing that ‘awesome’ is the only adjective nearly sufficient to describe it. But life here is also fragile, threatened by both cosmic and terrestrial dangers. We, as a world society, need a horizon to seek, a frontier to explore,” he said. “I think the important point is that it’s not that our minds are made up or closed, it’s that a simple explanation is existing geologic processes are a possible explanation. We must remain open-minded as new data or a better interpretation comes along.”
The Upside of Sensationalism
Cutright believes it is in our best interest to be consumed by such pursuits.
“We are a very small island in a predominantly hostile universe. The more we learn, and the farther we travel, the more secure our present and our future will be,” he said.
And, of course, government and advocates, like Musk and Rogan, will play a role.
“Political will is fickle, and rarely dependable,” he said. “Political will is also self-serving and short-sighted. Leaders who have a vision of the future beyond the next election cycle are rare. This is the fundamental drive to explore. Fear of the unknown drives the nay-sayers, whether it is expressed as ‘why should we go’ or expressed as ‘going is a waste of time and money,’” said Cutright.
But it’s more than man going where no man has gone before.
“Mars, he said, “is the lighthouse on the edge of the undiscovered continent. Space resources are the solution to problems on Earth that the nay-sayers cite as reasons to not go to space,” he added.
Mars orbiters can do just so much of the exploration.
What about manned missions?
“Yes, we should go; and yes – we will go,” declared Cutright.
A Vast Undertaking
But not so fast. Literally, not so fast.
Due to something called the Hohmann transfer orbit, which aligns with the positions of Earth and Mars when they are closest, the outgoing flight would be relatively short – nine months or so; however, the round trip back to Earth would require waiting for the planets to be in the right position again, which can take around three years due to their different orbital speeds and distances around the sun.
There is something else to consider.
At present, we don’t have the capacity.
“It is a simple fact,” said Wyatt, “that the amount of space-based radiation human astronauts will experience traveling to Mars, or to any other translunar destination, will be eventually fatal.”
Deep-space radiation protection and human sustainability in space need significant advances in technology before any deep space travel is safe.
“You can reduce exposure to radiation by shortening travel time which means increasing speed. This is an area of expanding research but still early in the developmental stage. If the new Russian plasma engine works, this could be huge. If the U.S.-based nuclear engine works, this could be huge.”
Cutright said, once the technology is there – and the work is already being done on nuclear thermal rockets and ion propulsion systems – the paradigm for such projects may change.
“Perhaps space exploration will be driven, not so much by political expediency, but by solid economic considerations,” he added.
Wyatt is currently a chief advisory scientist for energy and space sciences and program manager/director for the Amentum Corporation NASA Research Support Program at Ames Research Center. He has more than 10 years’ experience managing the subsurface geoscience and engineering research programs at the National Energy Technology Laboratory, with longer cumulative experience managing NASA and Department of Energy-related research activities.
The undertaking of sending humans to Mars, he said, will be vast.
“Humans by existence are thin-film environment-based beings. Without proper protective and supporting engineering, we cannot survive outside of a range of the surface of the Earth from about 10,000 feet above the surface to 2,000-3,000 feet below the surface, and less if in water. We need to carry our environment that we experience in this basically three-mile thin film limit we have as an organism with us in our explorations. Space suits, radiation protective space craft, breathing gasses, temperature control – whatever it takes to provide the same protection we have from this thin film zone. Going to Mars requires a lot of human engineering needs. Technologies are being developed, science is being evaluated, and people are being trained, but we are not yet ready to allow survival,” Wyatt explained.
A Question Even More Vast
Ultimately, said Cutright, “We are bedeviled by the Fermi Paradox,” alluding to the discrepancy between the lack of conclusive evidence of advanced extraterrestrial life and the apparently high likelihood of its existence.
“I am sure we will find unicellular life on other planets in the solar system. I am less sure that we will find complex life, multicellular life, or even life not based on a cellular foundation. But, intelligent life? We are a rare event in the life of the Earth, and apparently the solar system. How much rarer is intelligent life in other solar systems, or within the Milky Way galaxy?” he said.
It’s an enormous question – in part because the question takes place in enormity.
“Can we assume that it is only over the last 500,000 years that intelligent, technological civilizations have existed on earth?” asks Cutright. “We barely know what we don’t know. How can we be confident of a fundamental mystery of the universe when we have only looked in the mirror?”
Wyatt, too, is motivated by the unknown, by what’s out there.
“I have thoughts about alien life from a scientific, philosophical, theological, even science-fiction perspective, and all my thought paradigms agree,” he answered. “There is life, probably everywhere, in a wide variety of forms, potentially in multiple dimensions, in frequencies outside our range of observations, and in a wide range of sentience and development. I do not think there are carbon-based bags of water and an assorted handful of other elements everywhere, but there could be. To think otherwise is pure human hubris. Additionally, I don’t believe the universe contains waste, existing matter and energy with no functional purpose, and therefore having sentience demands life.”
Our Next Frontier
Since 1971 there have been 17 Mars orbiters to evaluate the atmosphere and remotely explore the surface. Seven are still active, including the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. From orbit, we have basically covered the planet. New processing of older data, newly acquired higher resolution data, advanced imagery AI analyses and data comparison/data manipulation between imagery from landers such as Perseverance and imagery such as from the MRO is allowing greater resolution and detail to be observed.
“Perseverance and Curiosity,” said Cutright, “have provided spectacular information of the characteristics of Mars, but now, it is time for human exploration to take our understanding of mars to the next level.
“Every week,” said Wyatt, “there is some new cool-looking thing found on the surface of Mars. As for the latest, he said, “We all must agree. This rectangular formation is pretty cool!”