Wednesday, October 24, 2012

"Mike Bara sees glass over Picard" 66 Comments

The Emoluments of Mars

        Picard is a 23-km diameter crater in Mare Crisium (Sea of Crises) on the Moon. Writing Ancient Aliens on the Moon, college drop-out Mike Bara considered Mare Crisium so important that he devoted the whole of Chapter 5 to it.

        Mare Crisium has been the site of numerous historical reports of TLP (transient lunar phenomena), and also the sensational (and utterly mistaken) 1953 report by journalist John O'Neill of an artificial bridge over part of the mare1,2. It's also the site of the so-called "spire," which may well be yet another scanner fault. It certainly isn't, as both Bara and Hoagland have written, part of a box several miles high. Even those satellite dishes, that I blogged about on October 12th, are right around here.

        But back to Picard. Mike Bara shows us this picture, a small detail from AS16-121-19438:

[Image] caption: High contrast version of crater Picard from AS16-121-19438         That image was taken after Apollo 16's LM, Orion, had returned to orbit following three highly fruitful moonwalks. It's a really wide angle, showing fully a third of the lunar hemisphere. Bara writes (p.103):

This unmistakable pie-slice shaped structure glows in the sunlight, illuminating what must be the last remaining piece of a solid, watch-crystal like dome over the  crater itself.Under intense enhancement, the wedge-shaped piece is even more obvious. (emphasis added)
        That "what must be" is a strong contender for "most unscientific statement written this century." As with the satellite dishes, it's a profound mystery why Mike Bara chose this extremely poor image of Picard, when an image at approximately 0.8m resolution is so easily available from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (14.6°N, 54.7°E). Here it is:

[Image] photo credit: LROC NAC
Where's that pie-slice now, Bara? Eh?? EH?????

========================================
1. See Bulletin of the Astronomical Institutes of Czechoslovakia, vol. 8, p.33
2. O'Neill's Bridge (wikispaces)
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Anonymous Trekker said...
I don't see how Mike can use the 'sun at the wrong angle excuse' for not using the LROC images. If there truly was a 'pie-slice shaped' (whatever that is) glass dome fragment over Picard, the edges would easily be visible in this overhead view, as well as the shadow it would cast on the ground below, not to mention a reflection from the sun.
October 19, 2012 4:38 PM
Blogger expat said...
Yes, it's totally lame.
October 19, 2012 4:44 PM
Blogger Misti Parker said...
Picard, after Jean-Luc?

It's same as you pointed out in a previous thread, Paddycakes, the original face on Mars had what, 5 meters of resolution, is it? So the face on Mars is actually a squished together image of the desert which is actually spread out a lot more than what's depicted, right?

Or would film used during Apollo, not be subject to that same sort of spacial distortion?
October 19, 2012 4:57 PM
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Blogger expat said...
Not Jean-Luc but Jean.

The original, Viking orbiter, image was 250m/pixel. Really, really crude. The Ektachrome film used for Apollo was very fine grained, but there were a variety of lenses provided and the Apollo 16 shot was the shortest focal length they had, meaning the widest angle possible. Hence it was useless for seeing detail in them thar craters. Mike Bara doesn't understand that.
October 19, 2012 8:51 PM
Anonymous Trekker said...
Viking orbiter? Didn't Viking go to Mars, not the moon?
October 20, 2012 6:51 AM
Blogger expat said...
Yes, "Misti" was asking about Mars, Face On.
October 20, 2012 7:04 AM
Anonymous Trekker said...
Ah, sorry. I thought you were referring to the imaging of Picard.
October 20, 2012 7:48 AM
Blogger expat said...
FYI the lenses were:

Command Module: 80mm f/2.8, 250mm
Lunar Module: 60mm, 500mm

ref: Press Kit,, p.123
October 20, 2012 8:30 AM
Blogger expat said...
approx view angle in degrees =

180d/πf

where d =width of film (70mm for Apollo)
f=focal length of lens

So for the 60mm lens, angle is 67° -- pretty wide.
October 20, 2012 10:53 AM
Blogger Misti Parker said...
Those specs help, but I sort of wonder if the resolution of film with grain doesn't provide more information than the space between the pixels of digital imaging?
October 20, 2012 3:58 PM
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Blogger Misti Parker said...
I recently watched a trailer for the anniversary theatrical release of a directors cut of the God Father. That vintage movie was not made for the larger projection lenses and screens of this more modern era. At such high magnification, the grain is intolerable. Of course it was film bumped to digital, but pixelation was not contributing to the distortion at all. The grain was simply gigantic.
October 20, 2012 4:03 PM
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Anonymous Anonymous said...
Why are Mike and Hoagy so hung up on glass domes. Given that their pictures show nothing but their own imaginations, why domes?

Would not oh... pyramids fit better with their mythos?

-James
October 20, 2012 8:26 PM
Anonymous James Concannon said...
I wonder what Mike means when he writes "enhancement"? The so-called enhanced image of Picard in his Picasa gallery just looks a bit more contrasty. In terms of interpreting what it shows, I'd say he's degraded it rather than enhanced it. Perhaps that's deliberate.
October 21, 2012 9:11 AM
Blogger Chris Lopes said...
James,
The whole "we can add information by 'enhancing' the image" idea is completely bogus anyway. If it's not in the original image, it's not there. You can't make it appear by applying Photoshop magic.
October 21, 2012 10:01 AM
Blogger Misti Parker said...
Why was NASA wrong about the show that bombed when the bunker buster they dropped where Hoagland says there are domes, didn't produce the predicted cloud of rising dust?
October 21, 2012 3:46 PM
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Blogger expat said...
LCROSS didn't bomb (well, I guess it did, it dropped a bomb of a kind on crater Cabeus) it was highly successful.

Here's a press release:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/news/releases/2010/10-89AR.html

Here's the wikipage:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LCROSS
October 21, 2012 4:31 PM
Blogger Misti Parker said...
No, NASA said that there would be a big dust plume that would show up brightly illuminated by the Sun. They got everybody to stare at the Moon and we didn't see shit. Why didn't we?
October 21, 2012 10:10 PM
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Blogger Misti Parker said...
science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2008/11aug_lcross

A Flash of Insight: LCROSS Mission Update

August 11, 2008: There are places on the Moon where the sun hasn't shined for millions of years. Dark polar craters too deep for sunlight to penetrate are luna incognita, the realm of the unknown, and in their inky depths, researchers believe, may lie a treasure of great value.

NASA is about to light one up.

Sometime between May and August 2009, depending on launch dates, the booster stage for NASA's LCROSS probe will deliberately crash into a permanently-shadowed lunar crater at 9,000 km/hr, producing an explosion equivalent to about 2,000 pounds of TNT (6.5 billion joules). The blast will jettison material out of the crater into broad daylight where astronomers can search the debris for signs of lunar water.
October 21, 2012 10:18 PM
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Blogger Misti Parker said...

NASA moon bombing violates space law & may cause conflict with lunar ET/UFO civilizations


Politics
June 19, 2009
By: Alfred Lambremont Webre

Commentary: The planned October 9, 2009 bombing of the moon by a NASA orbiter that will bomb the moon with a 2-ton kinetic weapon to create a 5 mile wide deep crater as an alleged water-seeking and lunar colonization experiment, is contrary to space law prohibiting environmental modification of celestial bodies. The NASA moon bombing, a component of the LCROSS mission, may also trigger conflict with known extraterrestrial civilizations on the moon as reported on the moon in witnessed statements by U.S. astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong, and in witnessed statements to NSA (National Security Agency) photos and documents regarding an extraterrestrial base on the dark side of the moon.

If the true intent of the LCROSS mission moon bombing is a hostile act by NASA against known extraterrestrial civilizations and settlements on the moon, then NASA and by extension the U.S. government are guilty of aggressive war which is the most serious of war crimes under the U.N. Charter and the Geneva Conventions, to which the U.S. is subject. The U.N. Outer Space Treaty, which the U.S. has ratified, requires that “ The moon and other celestial bodies shall be used by all States Parties to the Treaty exclusively for peaceful purposes. The establishment of military bases, installations and fortifications, the testing of any type of weapons and the conduct of military manoeuvres on celestial bodies shall be forbidden.” 98 nations have ratified and 125 nations have signed the U.N. Outer Space Treaty.

[continues]
http://www.examiner.com/article/nasa-moon-bombing-violates-space-law-may-cause-conflict-with-lunar-et-ufo-civilizations
October 21, 2012 10:24 PM
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Blogger Esteban Navarro said...
The conversation , the ET base...is an old English prank, Mistic,but I think you already know, don´t you?
October 22, 2012 12:19 AM
Anonymous Trekker said...
Well, Misti, nobody on the moon retaliated, did they? Lol!
October 22, 2012 5:55 AM
Blogger expat said...
Alfred Lambremont Webre is a lawyer, not a scientist.

There are no statements by U.S. astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong regarding an extraterrestrial base on the dark side of the moon, unless you count statements along the lines of "No, we didn't see that."

LCROSS was not a weapon.

I don't know why the impact plume was less than expected. Phil Plait's blog may have something on that.
October 22, 2012 6:31 AM
Anonymous Strahlungsamt said...
@Trekker

Don't be so sure. Remember Alderaan?
October 22, 2012 11:19 AM
Anonymous Trekker said...
Sorry, remind me. Who or what is Alderaan?
October 22, 2012 11:21 AM
Anonymous Strahlungsamt said...
I just loooove the whole conspiracy mindset. Better to believe some celebrity gossip site than a NASA report (because celebrity journalists are always right and NASA covers up everything in case we might turn into brain-eating zombies and re-elect Obama or something).

BTW, have you guys seen Iron Sky yet? I just did and it's hilarious. It literally rips open every space-based conspiracy and just gets nuttier and nuttier as it goes along. Basically, the descendants of the original Nazis escaped to the Moon, built a base and taught their kids that once all humans are Aryanized, there will be world peace. The first man on the moon in 50 years is black, Sarah Palin is president and there's references to Dr. Strangelove and there's a 1138 in there somewhere.
If you've ever listened to a conspiracy rant, that's what the story is like. Loads of inconsistent to impossible events took place to make improbable things happen and, of course, it's all true. If Hoagie and Mike were good storytellers, they could almost have written it themselves.
Best bit, the movie makes fun of conspiracies too much for Hoagie and Mike to use it for clues. Guess they'll have to stick with "Mission to Mars" for now.
October 22, 2012 11:34 AM
Anonymous Strahlungsamt said...
@Trekker

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBAZGtBfcY4
October 22, 2012 11:39 AM
Anonymous Trekker said...
Lol, thanks!
October 22, 2012 12:06 PM
Blogger Misti Parker said...
Hoagland says that the reason that there was no dust plume, was because the domes are sooooo big, that the hole that the bunker buster put in one, was not big enough for the dust to get out. I haven't heard any explanation from NASA at all. That's what I mean about NASA. They never give you all the information. Is it any wonder that people get all conspiratorial? NASA need to become much more accountable, because tax payers are fed up with paying their money and taking it in the butt.
October 22, 2012 2:08 PM
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Anonymous Trekker said...
Misti, a two-second google search provided me with NASA's explanation, dating from Oct. 21, 2010:

http://lcross.arc.nasa.gov/observation.htm
October 22, 2012 2:51 PM
Blogger Esteban Navarro said...
Exactly, mistic, NASA has to explain any infatuation that comes to mind to any nutcase, yes, it would be wellworth its money .... Not like the U.S. DOD, right? yes ... they do well in explaining in what democratic things spends 40% "taxpayers' money" (Don´t you get tired of that demagogic litany yet?)

Thanks for the link, Strahlungsamt, that Shakespearean accent of Peter Cushing... (And a little of Carrie Fisher!!!, ha ha ,ha...) Nice.
October 22, 2012 2:58 PM
Blogger Misti Parker said...
Trekkie, you are full of shit. That linked article does not give NASASS' explanation as to why they made the false claim, that there would be a dust plume visible from Earth, and why that plume did not occur.
October 22, 2012 4:18 PM
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Blogger Misti Parker said...
Estabanned, when NASA makes false claims and the public calls them on it, your name calling does not defend NASA for lying again.
October 22, 2012 4:28 PM
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Blogger Misti Parker said...
Even the close up videos don't show a plume. It's a perfect example of the Emperor's New Cloths.
October 22, 2012 4:30 PM
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Anonymous jourget said...
Misti, I think the fact that they originally claimed that a prominent plume would most likely occur, and then a plume less conspicuous in the visual spectrum than expected (not NO plume, as you seem to imply) showed up is a really excellent example of why we do science. The current models of ice on the lunar south pole said one thing would happen, then the LCROSS results said something was a little off. The conclusion to be drawn from these quotes is that we learned something we didn't know before. Before the fact statements that end up being incorrect and non-credentialed folks who said something on the internet once do not compelling evidence of a conspiracy make.
October 22, 2012 4:50 PM
Blogger Misti Parker said...
NASA publicized a great big plume that was supposed to be visible from Earth, and it wasn't even visible in video. NASA offered no explanation as to what happened to the plume. It's just like Hoagland announcing his birthday wish for loot so he could go to Egypt. Instead, he gypped everybody and went to his local bar and celebrated his birthday there. He hasn't said a word about that, either.
October 22, 2012 5:01 PM
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Blogger Misti Parker said...
I want my money back from NASA. At least I had sense enough after that fiasco then to give any money to Hoagland.
October 22, 2012 5:03 PM
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Anonymous jourget said...
Not only wasn't the plume visible on video, it wasn't visible in even the highest-powered Earth telescopes looking for it. Still doesn't mean anything. NASA isn't a Hollywood studio promising a whiz-bang blockbuster and then failing to deliver. They do science. If they could have said with 100% accuracy what they would see before they launched the mission, then there would have been no need for the mission. They didn't say why they got those results immediately afterward because, with real scientists, incorporating new results takes time. You're right about the advantages about a balanced critique, but absolutely wrong about Hoagland and NASA being exactly alike.
October 22, 2012 5:14 PM
Blogger Misti Parker said...
Really? I'm still waiting for NASA to make a retraction about that arsenic eating bacteria. NASA delays a press conference to coincide with the return of the nine month absence of the nuclear powered, Project Prometheus, X-37B, which Hoagland also ignored, makes a big bogus announcement of new, alien forms of life, and then never owns up to having lied yet again.
October 22, 2012 6:50 PM
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Blogger Misti Parker said...
NASA delays the press conference to steal the headlines about the unexplained mission of the X-37B. The Air-force claimed that it had simply disappeared. All the public's attention was on NASA claiming alien life now astronomically much more feasible with the discovery of the arsenic eating bacteria. Richard C Hoagland goes on Coast to Coast AM in support of NASASS' claims, while also making no mention, even in passing, about the X-37B. George Noory's first interview with Hoagland was an entire show about Project Prometheus, the nuclear powered Spacecraft. The next day after the press conference, Hoagland nuked all referecne from his facebutt page, about the X-37B and Project Prometheus. NASA held that televised press conference, not only to divert from the secret mission of the nuclear powered Project Prometheus, X-37B, but also to reach the largest possible audience. How many people today, are still under the impression that alien life has been announced by NASA, despite the small articles that subsequently smashed the faulty science to smithereens? There is no arsenic eating bacteria.

Now that NASA says that a "plastic containment" of an uncertain origin was discovered by Curiosity. What ever happened to all of those dispersing Mars probes? Did they crash on the surface of the planet, did the Martians shoot them down, or did the X-37B already go and retrieve them all?


October 22, 2012 7:24 PM
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Blogger Misti Parker said...
NASA has deliberately muddied the water. By announcing feasibility of alien life, irrespective of the fact that the science was bogus, everybody thinks that it's true. By finding plastic on the surface of Mars, if bacteria ever is discovered, there is no way to say that it wasn't introduced by the clumsiness of NASA; plastic can't be sterilized. There is no way for anybody to know anything for certain, one way or another. The one true thing that Hoagland often says, is: "The lie is different at every level."
October 22, 2012 7:39 PM
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Blogger Misti Parker said...
Now, if bacteria is announced to have been discovered on Mars, and NASA is to say that it can't be sure if they didn't put it there themselves, people will jump to the conclusion that NASA is being overly conservative, or trying to cover up alien life. After all, even if a silicone based bacteria were to be found on Mars, NASA already will be remembered to have already discovered it in the Salton Sea in the low valley of the Southern California desert.
October 22, 2012 7:46 PM
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Blogger Misti Parker said...
Yep. Just like the X-37B, and the plume on the Moon, all those old Mars probes simply disappeared. I wan't my FLICK'N money back!
October 22, 2012 8:27 PM
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Blogger Misti Parker said...
Yep, just like that arsenic eating bacteria, simply disappeared, so did MY MONEY!
October 22, 2012 8:30 PM
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Blogger Biological_Unit said...
all those old Mars probes simply disappeared

I'm sure you could do better with help from Orbs and "feelings".
October 23, 2012 2:57 AM
Blogger Esteban Navarro said...
"My name callin?" Me? Ha ha ha...

Are Chris and Expat terrible secret agents of disinformation already or not?
Have you run out for insulting Arabs and communists? Why insult our intelligence with that childish tantrums ´bout NASA and taxes and "The public"?Who´s the public ?You?


Please, tell me you have something more than x37b and bacteria to conclude that NASA lies ... A far-right tradition of conspiranoia on Internet against science and common sense depends on it ...
October 23, 2012 3:11 AM
Blogger expat said...
>>NASA already will be remembered to have already discovered it in the Salton Sea in the low valley of the Southern California desert.<<

Mono Lake, not Salton Sea.
October 23, 2012 6:27 AM
Blogger expat said...
The claim was not that GFAJ-1 "ate" arsenic but that it substituted arsenic for phosphorous in its DNA backbone. NOT nucleotides, by the way, as Hoagland thought.

But indeed, the claim is now falsified.
October 23, 2012 6:49 AM
Blogger Misti Parker said...
NASASS' claim has indeed been proven to be WRONG and NASA has yet to own up to it, let alone, hold another big press conference to clear things up with all the people who were hoodwinked.

"Feelings"? How am I supposed to feel?

As far as the Orbs are concerned, my opinions are based upon observations, not feelings. However, when the Orbs showed up outside my terminal mothers hospital room, and minutes after she died, folded her corpse up in the electric bed, so that the only way we could stop it was to unplug the current, yeah, that sort of made me feel like shit.
October 23, 2012 10:27 AM
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Anonymous Trekker said...
Expat, did you see Mike's scaaaary message to you on his FB (author) page? I'm sure you'll be shaking in your boots. Lol!
October 23, 2012 10:46 AM
Blogger expat said...
I may be wrong but I see some humor in that. I'm not taking it as scary.
October 23, 2012 11:07 AM
Blogger Esteban Navarro said...
I'm not sure we could say the same phrase for Misti, Expat. (Glups)
October 23, 2012 11:42 AM
Anonymous Trekker said...
Well, as he's not the most articulate, I suppose it could be seen in more ways than one.

I took it as meaning he was going to elaborate on what you wrote on the 15th about his comment on a radio show: "that he's hired an investigator to track me down and he will soon file a restraining order against me."
October 23, 2012 11:44 AM
Blogger Binaryspellbook said...
Perrys Ridiculouswig I'm not sure that pointing out the many many factual errors in your work would be classed as cyberstalking Mike. For example writing that light can penetrate our deepest oceans and be reflected off the ocean floor back into space. This is what you wrote Mike, and it's horribly wrong.
17 minutes ago · Like
October 23, 2012 2:11 PM
Blogger Misti Parker said...
Just because what I have to say rubs up against other people's irrational denial, doesn't mean that I'm the one who's scared.

Bareass' just hoping ExPat might stir up some ratings for him's all.
October 23, 2012 2:24 PM
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Blogger Chris Lopes said...
For those of us banned from Mikey's FB page, what is he saying?
October 23, 2012 2:33 PM
Blogger expat said...
Chris, I doubt if you're banned from the author page. I'm not.

http://www.facebook.com/AuthorMikeBara

btw binaryspellbook's comment is already history.
October 23, 2012 3:22 PM
Blogger Chris Lopes said...
Expat,
I found it and left a quote from a very wise man.
October 23, 2012 4:42 PM
Blogger Misti Parker said...
I just posted to Bara's facebutt author page, with a couple of my handles, and both of those ghosts are banned.
October 23, 2012 5:28 PM
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Anonymous Anonymous said...
Misti, if you will shut up about "orbs, Prometheus, nuclear powered X-37B, and your feelings" I will personally give you your share of the NASA back. I will even let Expat be the go between so you won't feel threatened.

Good grief, woman, why don't you spend some time in your local library actually learning some science rather than listening to Hoax to Hoax and whining about things you don't understand?
October 23, 2012 11:31 PM
Blogger expat said...
I heard most of Bara on Darkness last night. There was no opportunity for cyber-stalking, in fact.

It's not worth a review -- same old drivel.
October 24, 2012 10:46 AM
Blogger Binaryspellbook said...
Have some fun.....

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=321044127993998&set=a.321044124660665.69844.320728991358845&type=1&theater
October 24, 2012 12:11 PM
Blogger Binaryspellbook said...
And a laugh..

http://tinyurl.com/cn3jkcs
October 24, 2012 1:37 PM
Blogger Misti Parker said...
You guys are the ones talking about feelings, so screw you.

NASA lies about lost Mars probes.
NASA lies about the color of Mars.
NASA lies about alien life forms.
NASA lies about plumes on the Moon.
NASA lies about plastic on Mars.

You guys are the one's talking about you luvy duvy feeling for NASA.
October 24, 2012 2:39 PM
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Anonymous Strahlungsamt said...
Misti,

1. Plastic can be sterilized. If Curiosity was infected, the infection probably wouldn't get very far. Mars is very very cold with such a thin atmosphere, the germs would probably remain in deep freeze, if they survived at all. I also doubt NASA would be that careless since it sterilizes the rest of the probe so thoroghly.

2. Ever hear of satellite tracking stations? Basically, they are in every country that has ever launched a satellite and they monitor every object orbiting the planet, whether they own it or not. If xb37 (or whatever number it was) took off for Mars, the tracking stations would have noticed and somebody would have opened their big mouth. Classified or not, it was visible and if it made any funny moves, it would be detected immediately. Plus, if it had nuclear engines, it would have left a trail of radioactive material behind it which I think would be easily detected. There's satellites watching for all kinds of stuff now.

3. Mars probes are pretty vulnerable. Mars is not far from the Asteroid Belt so the probability of smashing into a rock should be higher around Mars than around Earth. Plus, if even the slightest thing breaks in space, a probe is toast. Not a conspiracy.

4. I've already posted about false color photography. I won't repeat myself.

5. No life has been found on the Moon or Mars. The Russians, Japanese, Indians, Europeans and Chinese haven't found life either. I think it's safe to say both worlds are sterile.

6. If there were smaller than expected plumes, that's because the Lunar soil is different from what the scientists expected. Not a conspiracy. I hope you didn't catch a cold watching the Moon and hoping to see something.
October 24, 2012 4:02 PM
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October 24, 2012 5:01 PM
Blogger Misti Parker said...
Plastic cannot be sterilized, but there is probably lots of other contaminated trash on Mars as well. Nevertheless, any bacterial contamination on Mars from NASA may be as you say, Strangulatedautoeroticassphixation,unlikely, but still possible enough that NASA cannot say for sure that any bacteria found on Mars was not introduced there by them, or from one of their missing probes, or one of Russia's missing probes. Russia may or may not care to sterilize their gear, and they most certainly do not permit any independent inspection of them.

Even if NASA nuked the Moon, there is so much radiation in Space that man can't colonize Mars anyway.

Secret or not, you'll never know.

If any alien forms of bacteria are found, someone can always insinuate that it could have come from Earth, anyway, because NASA made the false claim about the arsenic eating bacteria.

Without an accurate grey scale, any color reproductions might well absorb certain actual colors.

Governments have and do keep secrets quite effectively. If not, then tell us, Strangulatedautoeroticassphixation,just precisely where did the X-37B disappear to?
October 24, 2012 5:05 PM
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