Chapter 1370: The Mysterious Missing Crack
Mid-April.
A research paper signed by the Mars landing plan office was published in the latest issue of Future.
A mysterious geological structure was discovered on Mars!
The earthquake crack mysteriously disappeared overnight!
Once this paper was published, it immediately aroused widespread concern in the international community.
People’s understanding of Mars had always been that it was a dead planet without an ecosystem and no violent geological activities. The rugged landforms formed during the ancient geological period that was eroded by sandstorms for billions of years.
However, this discovery undoubtedly subverted people’s inherent understanding of this planet.
Not only was there a suspected newer geological activity on Mars, but there might also even be special geological phenomena that were not observed on Earth!
No one had ever seen earthquake cracks on Earth that had formed and disappeared overnight, as if nothing had happened.
On a well-known international astronomy enthusiast forum.
The second the paper was published, someone translated it into English and reprinted it here. It soon aroused discussion.
“WTF? The geological structure of Mars is still active? Does that mean that it is actually possible to repair the Martian magnetic field and modify the Martian atmosphere?”
“Yes, it is possible, but the possibility is close to 0. In fact, I am more curious about how the crack disappeared. Although the picture looks strange, it does not look like it’s photoshopped.”
“Could it be an alien?”
“Haha, let’s not rule out this possibility! Maybe that crack is actually a passage to a Martian civilization?”
“That is quite creative...”
“I thought of a video I watched before. A Martian holding a picture and walking in front of the Curiosity rover... Maybe everything we know about Mars is controlled by the aliens living there.”
“I think it’s more likely to be photoshopped.”
The discussions were not only raging on amateur forums but also on Facebook and Twitter, just that it was to a degree that was not as intensive.
Combined with the reports on extraterrestrial civilizations that had flooded the media in the early years, many people were speculating whether the earthquake crack was actually a trace of aliens.
Although this speculation was unreasonable, it was unexpectedly popular.
Due to the widespread public concern about this matter, BBC reporters quickly found NASA’s High Resolution Imaging Science Laboratory.
As another “Mars authority” besides the Mars landing office of China, although their conditions were a bit inferior to the researchers on Mars, in terms of theoretical research, their strength shouldn’t be underestimated.
“We are now interviewing Professor Comiton, who graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a major in planetary geology and is currently working at the NASA High Resolution Imaging Science Laboratory...”
The camera pointed at Professor Comiton, who was sitting in the chair, as the young reporter continued politely, “Hello, Professor Comiton, as an expert in the field of planetary geology, if this seismic structure does exist, what does that mean?”
Faced with a question from the BBC reporter, Professor Comiton pondered for a while before speaking.
“This is a very interesting question.
“In fact, around April 19, our InSight probe once observed a weak seismic signal on Mars, but the signal was so weak that we could not extrapolate the internal structure of Mars from it. It is impossible to determine whether the signal was even reliable.
“If the special geological structure discovered by the Mars landing office was really formed in the last hundreds of thousands of years as they said, it will undoubtedly be an unprecedented discovery, it will change what we know of Mars.”
After noticing the key information revealed by Professor Comiton, the young reporter immediately asked, “You mean, this discovery is very important?”
“Important is beyond doubt.”
Reporter: “But there is still a point of view that... Those pictures were forged?”
“That possibility is not ruled out, but this probability is very small. In fact, I had doubted it before, but I quickly dispelled this idea. After all... They are already on Mars. They won’t play this kind of childish joke.” Professor Comiton paused and said, “Actually, from my point of view, the disappearance of the seismic structure is what’s most important.
“It doesn’t matter if it is, like the rumors, caused by aliens living in the ground or by some special bacteria that repairs geological structures...
“I think if we can figure out the reason for this, the significance will be far more important than figuring out how the earthquake crack was formed!”
The interview was over.
The edited interview video was released by BBC in the form of a documentary and was quickly uploaded to YouTube and other video sites, which triggered discussions among netizens.
In fact, Professor Comiton’s view was the mainstream opinion in the academic world.
Which was, the seismic crack was real, formed by geological movement on Mars, and judging from the photos, the formation time should not be very long.
What everyone couldn’t figure out was why such a huge crack disappeared overnight.
Regarding the cause of this phenomenon, the opinions of the academic community were divided into two groups.
One school of thought was relatively conservative, which was that it might be due to thermal expansion and contraction caused by the huge diurnal temperature difference on Mars, causing the fractured structure to crack, which led to the repairing contraction of the cracked surface on the inside.
Coupled with the landfill effect of sandstorms, the tiny cracks exposed on the surface were filled, and the special fractured structure seemed to disappear overnight.
The other point of view was because of biogenicity. They believed that some kind of iron-eating bacteria living on hematite eroded the hematite veins at the bottom of the fractured structure.
Coupled with the drilling and sampling of the water source by the nearby Chinese Mars Scientific Research Station, the structure collapsed in the area and the disappearance of the faulted structure occurred.
However, both side’s points of view lacked an effective theoretical basis, and no one could convince each other.
In addition to these speculations that could not justify themselves logically, there were also some speculations that were completely illogical.
For example, about aliens on Mars.
A small group of people believed that simple geological movement could no longer explain this “mysterious” phenomenon, and could only attribute it to human factors.
This was probably the masterpiece of the Martian aliens!
Scholars who held this view even made further expansions based on this viewpoint.
For example, after losing the protection of the atmosphere, the Martian aliens moved from the surface to the ground; the crack was not caused by an earthquake at all but was actually the entrance to the Martians’ colony.
In short, various public opinions were divided.
In the face of this incredible phenomenon, everything seemed to be confusing.
But something unexpected to everyone suddenly happened...
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