Mars explosion

Every time I see photos of mars there are rocks strewn all over the place as
if there were lots of large explosions in relatively recent past. The rocks
still have sharp square edges rather than being rounded by plenty wind and
sand storms. Almost like a war of global proportions would produce.

--
In the event of a water landing, your seat cushion may be used as a
floatation device. You'll be dead but they can find the wreakage with all
the seat cushions floating around.

Rodney Kelp wrote:
Every time I see photos of mars there are rocks strewn
all over the place as if there were lots of large
explosions in relatively recent past. The rocks
still have sharp square edges rather than being
rounded by plenty wind and sand storms.

Mars does not have plenty of wind and sand storms. It has a very thin
atmosphere that does not appear able to generate a lot of weathering on
rocks. Combined with the lack of rainfall and other water-based erosion
options, the rocks are going to stay sharp and angular for a long time.
Mike Miller, Materials Engineer

Rodney Kelp wrote:
Every time I see photos of mars there are rocks strewn all over the
place as
if there were lots of large explosions in relatively recent past. The
rocks
still have sharp square edges rather than being rounded by plenty
wind and
sand storms. Almost like a war of global proportions would produce.

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Or a lot of meteors over millions of years, and then nothing else much
happening for a billion or two. "Relatively recent past"?, means
nothing at Mars, or any other planet where we can't establish an
absolute dating system (this takes actual physical samples from known
spots). Where there's no constant erosion (except for solar radiation,
which is damn slow), sharp fractures may exist for eons.

In article ,
Rodney Kelp wrote:
Every time I see photos of mars there are rocks strewn all over the place as
if there were lots of large explosions in relatively recent past. The rocks
still have sharp square edges rather than being rounded by plenty wind and
sand storms. Almost like a war of global proportions would produce.

Meteorite impacts are effectively explosions. For anything sizable, the
arrival velocity is so high that the first contact vaporizes part of the
meteorite and part of what it hits, and the resulting explosion blows the
remainder of both apart. And indeed, if you look at those photos, you'll
also see that impact craters -- large and small -- are everywhere.

Erosion from windblown dust is much slower than you might think, bearing
in mind that Mars's atmosphere is extremely thin. Mars has *dust* storms,
not *sand* storms, and it's the larger particles that you need for serious
erosion. Those fresh-looking rocks may have been there a long time.
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"Think outside the box -- the box isn't our friend." | Henry Spencer
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