Monday, June 21, 2010

7th graders discover cave on Mars

I love these kind of stories.

The Mars Space Flight Facility at Arizona State University runs the Mars Student Imaging Program, where school kids can ask for a specific area to be photographed on Mars by NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter if they come up with a compelling research question. A group of 7th graders hunting for lava tubes discovered instead a "pit crater" that appears to be a large cave entrance or possibly a spot where a cave or lava tube roof collapsed. Either way, it's a new and potentially important feature. An ASU scientist said, "This pit is certainly new to us. And it is only the second one known to be associated with [the volcano] Pavonis Mons."
COMMENT: What a great program!

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