Less Than Credulous Trusting no one, we find out for ourselves

Red Herring On A Red Planet

December 5th, 2009 2:11 pm by Jonathan

In case you missed it last week, NASA released photographs from the Mars Spirit Rover that were taken between May and June of this year. One shot, in particular, looks as though it may be debris of an unknown origin, partially buried by the terrain of the red planet.

A German news site got a hold of this image, and now speculation has begun as to whether this object is extraterrestrial in nature. According to the site, this debris may be part of a wing, or even a drive unit (if anyone actually knows what this is, please tell us).

Now, I do not work for a major news site. I don't even know what the journalistic standards are in Germany. However, I do know that when trying to report things that seem sensational, one should have some facts that, while they may not directly support your claims, will at least mislead the readers to connect the dots in the way you desire.

The closest this article comes is with two statements:

"It is uncertain exactly what the pictures show, but it is not the first discovery suggesting the planet had a lost civilisation - what could be buildings, a hominid skull and even a strange creature have all been spotted in earlier photos beamed from Mars."

In the above, it would be helpful to have links or citations so that the reader can formulate ideas and discuss them with a little more than hearsay to back it up. A strange creature? Oh do tell! Think about it. You're at the watercooler because you are either ducking work or your pink slip, and you try to start a conversation about this debris. The person you're talking with says something like, "Really? A drive unit? Like to create a localized wormhole or a sub-light speed engine?" Or, they ask more about the "creature" and the hominid skull. What do you do? Do you have a more credible response than, "Well, I read it on-line," while you wish you had just done your work or cleaned out your desk rather than look like a complete jackass?

The second statement in the article really has nothing to do with the topic of the article at all:

"Expert and author Hartwig Hausdorf (53, ‘Encounters with the Incomprehensible’) said: 'I can imagine that Mars was once inhabited. The last NASA probes found water, a key requirement for life.'"

He's an expert and author! Actually, when looking up his biography, his areas of expertise seem to be all over the place, with such titles as, "Close Encounters of the 5th Type: The Darkest Side of the UFO Phenomenon," "The Return of the Dragon: The Last Living Dinosaurs," and "Not of this world: The Stargate in the Andes."

However, he can imagine that Mars was once inhabited. Hell, I can imagine that my neighbor has pieces of The Amber Room in his basement, but guess what happens when I start making those wild claims and investigate his home late at night in the name of sound Internet Journalism?

But we're deviating. You want to know what I really think it is? It's the remnants of the sound stage we used to fake the moon landing.

If you have any ideas as to what this image is of, please let us know. We'd be more than happy to have input and theories as to what's really happened on Mars.