NASA on freaky deaky “Mars bigfoot”: Mellow out — it’s two inches high
posted at 9:40 am on January 25, 2008 by Allahpundit
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Was anyone actually suggesting this thing was … alive? I thought the working theory was that it was the Ozymandian remnant of a statue carved by an ancient race of highly advanced Chewbaccas whose civilization had long since passed away thanks to their own avarice, cruelty, and impulse towards self-destruction.
Nope, just a rock.
“It’s a two-inch piece of rock eroded by the wind,” explained NASA spokesman Dwayne Brown…
“No one on the Mars Rover team is puzzled or surprised by the rock,” he said. “I can guarantee you that if [the alien theory] had any validity, we would would have a major press conference.”…
The Mars Rover took three days to make the huge panoramic image, slowly moving from one side to the other as it snapped images.
At each position, various filters were snapped into place over the camera lens, meaning that each static color shot actually takes several minutes to compose.
Throughout all that, the figure doesn’t move, meaning it’s certainly inanimate.
Here’s the full high-rez panorama. Stick to the left, scroll down about 70% of the way, and there you go. There’s also a space lizard wearing goggles or something in there. See how many characters in Pixar’s next film you can find!
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I had actually already seen this, but I suspected that NASA might say it was huge, rather than tiny… still not implying it was anything artificial, but I recall some Mars images in the past where I thought an object was only a fraction of how large it was reported to be.
That said, any numskull who actually thought that was “something” still has the excuse that they won’t just take NASA’s word for it on the size.
RightWinged on January 25, 2008 at 9:46 AM
I was gonna say it was Dennis Kucinich, but he’s not that tall.
fogw on January 25, 2008 at 9:48 AM
As you all may realize, I’m quite disappointed.
Bigfoot on January 25, 2008 at 9:48 AM
in cool space news, an asteroid is going to fly by in a few days
http://www.livescience.com/space/scienceastronomy/080124-asteroid-flyby.html
RightWinged on January 25, 2008 at 9:48 AM
Wow, that is soo cool. I’ve actually been waiting for a NASA post so I could share this.
Geronimo on January 25, 2008 at 9:48 AM
NASA is just covering the butts. This is real people!
Come on, this photo hits the internet and two days later Dennis Kucinich drops out of the nomination race and you are telling me that’s just a coincidence?
Wake up!
Drew on January 25, 2008 at 9:49 AM
2 inches? martians are smaller than i thought they’d be.
lorien1973 on January 25, 2008 at 9:51 AM
Fantastic I say! Bigfoot spotted in all 50 states, many other countries in the world, it was only a matter of time before he was spotted on Mars.
BTW, anyone else find it as amazing as I do that two rovers that were meant to last only a few months are still going after a few years?
I think those rovers were NASAs finest investment to date.
Bladerunner1701 on January 25, 2008 at 9:51 AM
Of course!!! with the thin Martian atmosphere and the low surface gravity, they would HAVE to be Little People!!!
Always Right on January 25, 2008 at 9:54 AM
Michael?
Michael Valentine Smith?
N. O'Brain on January 25, 2008 at 9:54 AM
Yes, but they’re very angry little buggers
LimeyGeek on January 25, 2008 at 9:55 AM
Surely they would have to be able to breathe through their skin (to maximise respiration), and also be extra dense/heavy (to compensate for lower gravity).
Why did I just waste 5 minutes of my life thinking of this?
LimeyGeek on January 25, 2008 at 9:58 AM
Just wanted to believe you weren’t alone in this universe, didn’t ya, big fella?
Weight of Glory on January 25, 2008 at 9:59 AM
Size doesn’t matter. It’s how they use their interstellar death ray that really counts.
Weight of Glory on January 25, 2008 at 10:01 AM
Chewbacca, I can see. The guys from “V”, couldn’t find! It was like playing Where’s Waldo. Do you guys seriously see something that rezembles a lizard wearing goggles?
badpenguin on January 25, 2008 at 10:04 AM
Fantastic. Thanks for sharing!
LimeyGeek on January 25, 2008 at 10:05 AM
It is quite amazing that we have this kind of technological ability. Pictures from another planet that look like someones vacation photo’s. Far out, man!
deadbackpacker on January 25, 2008 at 10:05 AM
They’re lying. It’s all a conspiracy.
Martian Bigfoot
MrC_5150 on January 25, 2008 at 10:10 AM
You have to have a vivid imagination. It’s the big rock, bottom right (with circular shapes near the top left).
lorien1973 on January 25, 2008 at 10:10 AM
Dennis Kucinich’s one remaining fan.
zane on January 25, 2008 at 10:12 AM
or playing possum.
highhopes on January 25, 2008 at 10:12 AM
I dig how we’re discussing objects 2″ tall, on a planet millions of miles away – while the Saudis are still trying to figure out if women should be allowed to drive.
yo on January 25, 2008 at 10:14 AM
BTW, even though I think most of what evolutionists say is silly… I have to point out one thing that really always gets me. I think it’s safe to say that most people who believe in aliens are evolutionists. That being the case, do these people ever stop and think how stupid it is to imagine that they would be humanoid in any way, based on their own line of thinking. I mean if everything on Earth was supposed to have evolved by random chance mutations, and that the same process is happening elsewhere… what the hell makes these morons think that “aliens” would evolve in to upright walking beings with heads, legs, and arms.
Whenever we watch something on the History channel about abductions or listen to stories on Coast to Coast AM, it’s always about the “grays” or the “white” who look remarkably human… but if evolution is true, then the odds that aliens would look anything like us are ridiculous. Are we to believe that after nothing exploded in to everything, the same type of rain came down on the same rocks, and the same life started from non-life, and just by chance it looks incredibly similar to what we look like, billions of years later? For f**k sake, what are the odds of an “alien” even evolving a brain? This is just like the “face” people claim is on Mars from some other photos. Why would one think that aliens that evolved on a totally separate line, with different origins, would even have the same concept of a “face” as we do?
RightWinged on January 25, 2008 at 10:14 AM
I just have to say how incredible it is that the Mars Rovers are still going. They were supposed to take pictures and roll around the surface of Mars for 90 days. But they’ve been going and going and going for something like 4 years now. Amazing.
Bryan on January 25, 2008 at 10:17 AM
hey, there’s a rod in this picture.
locke on January 25, 2008 at 10:19 AM
@ fogw: LOL.
I cannot wait till we get to Mars. GIVE NASA MORE MONEY!
Disclaimer: Yes, I work for NASA and for the Constellation Program.
antoniojvr on January 25, 2008 at 10:19 AM
And we even managed to debug/reprogram them from earth.
LimeyGeek on January 25, 2008 at 10:20 AM
Looks like he should be swinging a stick at Luke.
- The Cat
P.S. Little Teeny-Tiny Green Men.
MirCat on January 25, 2008 at 10:23 AM
That’s right. The Mars Rover team deserves every accolade tossed their way. They have done an incredible job and we have learned a great deal about Mars through their efforts.
Bryan on January 25, 2008 at 10:26 AM
So cool! The Martians are only 2″ high.
We can totally kick their asses!
Kasper Hauser on January 25, 2008 at 10:29 AM
Where is the rod? Is it the little spec in the horizon right under the lower solar panel?
I know Bryan. Space stuff totally blows my mind ever since I was a kid reading Omni magazine and looking through my telescope. Unbelievable.
Geronimo on January 25, 2008 at 10:30 AM
That and the Galileo probe, which was only supposed to work for a few months and wound up going for years.
crazy_legs on January 25, 2008 at 10:34 AM
2 inches tall? So it COULD be a statue of Kucinich…
Definately, Bryan, all accolades to NASA and the Rover team.
And I volunteer to be the technician to go up and fix it when it breaks.
Mazztek on January 25, 2008 at 10:38 AM
“Help me Obe Wan Help me….”
shooter on January 25, 2008 at 10:42 AM
Wow, that is soo cool. I’ve actually been waiting for a NASA post so I could share this.
Geronimo on January 25, 2008 at 9:48 AM
wow awesome pix! Thanks G!
max1 on January 25, 2008 at 10:43 AM
They didn’t listen to Al Gorebacca’s warnings about global warming.
Dusty on January 25, 2008 at 10:44 AM
Come on RightWinged. Just look at Star Wars and the socialist Star Trek. The vast majority of aliens will look like us. Everyone knows that.
thekingtut on January 25, 2008 at 10:47 AM
Finally, I see the lizard guy. Looks like more of a turtle to me.
If you look dead center of the image there is a trapazoid shaped rock. Now follow the slope down just a bit southeast. There is another little 2″ guy that looks a little, shall I say, excited. Running towards the 3″ Chewbacca on the left side of the screen. Anybody else see him? Who could it be? Han, Luke, Lando…naw, it’s definately Kucinich.
badpenguin on January 25, 2008 at 10:49 AM
Dusty, you are correct. After all, their atmosphere is now 95% carbon dioxide. NASA has yet to release the pictures of fossilized SUVs they have.
michaelo on January 25, 2008 at 10:50 AM
We landed on Dune. Can’t wait for the sandworm photos.
Limerick on January 25, 2008 at 10:51 AM
Take a few and look around here.
Both the rovers and the Global Surveyor are truly astounding.
http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/
shooter on January 25, 2008 at 10:53 AM
No, that would be us Westerners.
Drum on January 25, 2008 at 11:07 AM
Very cool. I’ll have to check those out tonight when I have more time. I like the dust devil video that’s 5 miles high.
Doesn’t it feel like you could just walk right into the picture?
Geronimo on January 25, 2008 at 11:10 AM
All this talk of Bigfoots and Mars rovers reminds me of that Six Million Dollar man episode where Steve Austin had to take on the robotic outerspace Sasquatch and the indestructible Venus space probe…
I should just shut up right now.
Nosferightu on January 25, 2008 at 11:15 AM
Hmmm… so you’re saying that the aliens were Democrats? That makes sense given the whole “We come in peace… and to claim all your natural resources” angle that most alien invasion stories take.
Oh, and just in case you didn’t get enough Fruit Loops in your cereal bowl this morning, here’s an extra helping.
jasnell on January 25, 2008 at 11:32 AM
So what if it’s two inches high. It’s Mars. Light gravity. Martians are short, duh!
Weebork on January 25, 2008 at 11:45 AM
yeah,the little thing on the horizon. it looks a little like a rod to me.
the history channel had a “monster quest” about them and showed pretty definitively rods are just photographic distortions in capturing a moving object like a moth.
of course, they’re aren’t moths in space. :-0
locke on January 25, 2008 at 11:47 AM
there*
locke on January 25, 2008 at 11:47 AM
Kinda looks like a lawn jockey, huh?
Mazztek on January 25, 2008 at 11:49 AM
Excellent introduction of the word “Ozymandian” to most of us. I’m now a big fan of that word and will use it in the course of every conversation I have for the next month.
ConstantSorrow on January 25, 2008 at 11:49 AM
Is that amazing? Only a couple mountains on this planet are higher. Colorado has 54 fourteeners, and they’re not even three miles high.
be careful…I spent three hours on there recently and only had a few minutes to spare. :-)
Gotta love NASA.
shooter on January 25, 2008 at 11:58 AM
heh! Funny!
shooter on January 25, 2008 at 12:02 PM
Better build a fence around it or the first lefty on Mars will dunk it in a jar of pee and call it art.
whitetop on January 25, 2008 at 12:13 PM
I think it’s a toy soldier dropped by a little Martian kid 3oo,ooo years ago, just before the thinning atmosphere rendered the planet uninhabitable, and they fled to Earth.
But they landed in Atlantis and got cooked by a volcanic catastrophe.
Unlucky, those Martians.
profitsbeard on January 25, 2008 at 12:19 PM
But but there’s a face on Mars too.
Richard Hoagland said so. I want to believe!
Hendo on January 25, 2008 at 12:31 PM
Sure, it’s only two inches high on Mars, but when exposed to the oxygen-rich atmosphere on Earth, it grows to TWENTY STORIES HIGH!
Run for your lives!
PattyJ on January 25, 2008 at 12:49 PM
A race of Martian Rock people.
Kini on January 25, 2008 at 12:55 PM
So…Jimmy Hoffa finally found…
right2bright on January 25, 2008 at 1:36 PM
But did anyone look at the High Res shot and see the turtle???
It’s there…you just have to look….
Fuzzball on January 25, 2008 at 1:45 PM
A good friend of mine is an astronaut and is scheduled to return to space March of 2009.
I’m going to see if I can get the inside skinny from him. But who knows, if the tin-hatters are right, if he tells me he may have to kill me.
silenced majority on January 25, 2008 at 2:08 PM
2 inches, huh? Darn, and I thought it was a Tusken Raider.
“I can see one of them now…”
Jezla on January 25, 2008 at 2:48 PM
Government agency NASA? I don`t think so: “It`s a rock, now believe that or we can ditch you and no one will ever find your body.” :-P
ThePrez on January 25, 2008 at 2:58 PM
Geronimo,
Thanks for the picts: especially liked the second one shot above New Zealand.
deesine on January 25, 2008 at 3:28 PM
No prob, a friend sent them my way yesterday and I was blown away. Glad you all liked them.
Geronimo on January 25, 2008 at 3:48 PM
Little green men, martians, princess Leah, Dennis? Geez, do not put any politicians on Mars. I am sure we will be blamed for global warming on Mars, too. Better yet, fly them to the moon! Do not want any martians down here spreading their diseases and politics. We have enough idiots here. Next, we will be taxed for the air we breathe. Oh wait, I think we pay for that already.
txstar on January 25, 2008 at 4:27 PM
I love science!
/sighs happily once again
Bob's Kid on January 25, 2008 at 5:06 PM
It isn’t a conspiracy when people look up in the sky and see clouds that are shaped like animals, people, or other things.
It isn’t a conspiracy when people look at all sorts of stains, wood grains, and shadows that look like Jesus, Mary or Elvis.
Why is a 2″ turd-shaped rock differnt?
TC on January 25, 2008 at 6:05 PM
Other features in the full photo are intersting. Layered rocks like they were etched by waves of water long long ago.
johnnyU on January 25, 2008 at 9:54 PM
It just goes to show how mistakes can become a hobbit.
Dr. Charles G. Waugh on January 25, 2008 at 10:34 PM
No, what is amazing is that the Martins keep fixing the damn things so they can play the Potemkin village routine on NASA…(Oh and the disclaimer…My brothers father-in-law built those damn things, or at least part of them)
doriangrey on January 25, 2008 at 11:23 PM
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