If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.

The duck test.

Currently there are several countries focussing on Mars. There is a lot of excitement because what returning images are suggesting is that Mars is just a more mature version of Earth, that it once had running water and geological processes just like Earth. And that rock formations that we can see through the lens are very similar to ones to be found on Earth. But should we believe what we see? Are we seeing what we think we see? I don’t trust my wing mirrors on my car too readily and prefer to check over my shoulder if changing lane on a motorway. And similarly much prefer to be on location rather than look through the lens of a camera. Maybe this time around, some of the images we get back will be a bit more convincing but many so far leave me wondering that we aren’t necessarily seeing what we think we see.

Landing site for Mars 2020 Rover. It looks like someone has been driving a four by four down there already?

Looks like a lava flow

We will have more amazing images coming in the next few years:

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/images/index.html

Coincidentally, UAE Hope mission returns first image of Mars:

(IMO rather amazing it is too )

20:36 GMT on Wednesday 10 Feb 2021 - Image below from: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-56060890

I don't see anything that looks artificial. Looks natural, dead and barren to me?

That’s it. It really needs boots on the ground to check it out.

I gather Jezero is Czech for the word lake. I wonder why they chose that site.
Actually aerial photos can be very revealing such as ones NASA produce for Earth. So hopefully they can come up with some really good shots of Mars.

He was banned

This is a more extreme example of what I was referring to... if we go by a photo of the moon we might say that it is a man’s face peering down.

I often see the "Man In The Moon" and on further key presses, saw this:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/science...ar-swirls-created-underground-lava-flows.html

For quite a while too:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_in_the_Moon

I thought it was because my eyesight is not as good as it once was and I wasn't wearing specs

This explains the reason behind the site selection. Jezero Crater



It looks like they are sending up a miniature helicopter type drone called “Ingenuity” as a step forward in surveillance of the planet. And they aim to cut some geological cores that they aim to store until they can be retrieved at a later date.

Yes. According to NASA they believe it is a river canyon slicing through the the crater rim and depositing material in the crater lake when it was a lake. They mention clay. So they think there might be an abundance of evidence of life. So I can see what they are getting at. It looks plausible.

As a for instance, features like the one they hope to look at are commonplace in the Gulf of Mexico where huge oil deposits exist and are being produced from. Deepwater Horizon was drilling in such deposits.

So it will be interesting to see what they find. Maybe even some Unobtainium.