Could it be, trees on Mars!?

Question

The link below is an official NASA photograph of Mars. If the below link doesn't show some sort of vegetation on Mars, what could it be?

http://www.xtl-ak.com/veg/m_0804688a.jpg

Answer 1

Well considering Mars has no oxygen or decent atmosphere, it wouldn't be any vegetation we're used to.

Besides, those really don't look like trees/vegetation to me... Looks more of a pattern left by ice or dirt.

Answer 2

There are pictures of Mars that look like that but they are areas of the polar ice that are partly melted. Even though it looks kind of like trees photographed from above, it isn't.

(EDIT) I couldn't find your exact picture but there are so many I might have just missed it. Or it may not actually be a picture of Mars. Your link has no supporting text, just the picture. But the source is a picture taken by the Mars Global Surveyor.

Answer 3

1. No liquid water has been proven to exist on Mars. Hypothesized, yes, but not proven.

2. No part of Mars experiences prolonged periods of warmth to allow any complex vegetation to grow. Given that Earth's south pole is a more hospitable place than the Martian equator at night, it is ridiculous to imagine vegetation growing anywhere on Mars. Microbes under the surface, yes. Vegetation, no. I'm particularly referring to night temperatures, although it may be relatively warm during the day. One of NASA's missions discovered summer night temperatures to be around -60 degrees C at a latitude equivalent to that of Florida on Earth.

3. And most importantly, trees DO NOT breathe carbon dioxide. They breath oxygen like all living things. Photosynthetic plants take in carbon dioxide for photosynthesis, but this is not 'breathing'. They use CO2 and water to make sugars, thereby storing the sun's energy, and then use oxygen to liberate this energy. There is very, very little oxygen on Mars.

The only living beings that do not require oxygen to survive are chemoautotrophic bacteria that survive on alternative oxidizing agents, such as elemental sulfur or nitrates. It is possible that certain unknown species of chemoautotrophs may exist on Mars. There is plenty of oxygen locked up as ferric oxide. Unfortunately, plants cannot use this oxygen.

Answer 4

It is ice

Answer 5

Looks like ice from the caps to me. Definitely not a living organism.

Answer 6

Odd how many different explanations about why they are not trees. #1 Mars does have an atmosphere #2 Mars does have life (I've been there) #3 those aren't trees like you would see on Earth, they are very tall fern-like trees that need very little water unlike Earth ferns that need lots of water. I was impressed about the one girls highly educated answer, yet she assumes she was never misinformed. That's just sad.

Answer 7

It's a cluster of restaurants, lol.     All kidding aside, you'd need  to create a magnetic field or "dynamo"  to shield the trees from cosmic radiation (galactic, solar, extragalactic, ultra high energy, and anamolous rays).  A magnetic field will also protect any water from being photo-dissociated by solar-uv.  It will also lessen the ferocity of the dust storms which engulfs Mars during the Spring/Summer season, when Mars is closest to the Sun.  Apparently, it's the unfiltered solar radiation which triggers high winds and kicks up the dust which, combined with the Coriolis effect, becomes a storm.

Then your trees will thrive if you also brought up all the furry creatures like squirrels, hamsters, lorises, lemurs, weasels, etc. because all animals which respire aerobically, give off water vapor and CO2.  Terraforming and now--bioforming.

Aerobic Respiration:

C6H12O6 + oxygen --> 6 CO2 + 6 H2O + ATP (energy)

Write to your space agency to install dynamos on all of the moons and Mars.  Anyone attending ISDC 2009?

Answer 8

I don't see trees in that picture but here's a link supporting the idea of trees on mars.

http://homepage.mac.com/alandmoen/treeso...

I don't know if I buy it though.

after all the other probes that landed, none have returned pictures of trees. only rocks

the link I supplied might be large rocks that where deposited "randomly" in the past when there WAS liquid flowing over the surface.

mars has many spots that suggest liquid was flowing over the surface with examples of "grain" found in the patterns on the ground.

I'd buy rocks before I believed the trees,

our photos from the surface do confirm rocks, even ones that look like big foot

http://montrealradioguy.files.wordpress....

after looking at your pic, the "shadows" in your picture (which only seem to visible in the white ice) might actually be that "grain" I was referring to. at one time the ice may have been less solid or even liquid, leaving streaks behind as large rocks caused a rift.

amazing.... most people don't think about the magnetic field but 166MOONS hit this one right on the head.

Answer 9

It's pretty hard to know what that picture shows, without any indication of scale. Is the photo 400 miles across, or 3 inches? In any case, it doesn't look like trees to me, and large scale lifeforms on Mars are quite unlikely anyway.

Answer 10

You can find out what this photograph is by visiting NASA's/ESO site. Its like campell said, the polar ice cap.

Ignoring the fact that there are no trees anywhere on Mars  the Earth does not have any trees,at the polar ice caps either.

Not yet anyway.

Answer 11

Looks like loads of craters just making a pattern

I guess we'll never know until we get a human physically there

Answer 12

AHAHAHAHAH, you think those are TREES????

Answer 13

Shrubbery?

Mars DOES have and atmosphere - one that is conducive to shrubbery!