IMHO,that still does not explain why only the northern hemisphere has been flooded with lava,leaving the southern hemisphere looking as old as it is!

It is amazing that Spirit has now found blueberries in Gusev,very similar to the ones covering most of Meridiani on the other side of the planet.The haematite rich berries in Gusev most likely to have formed(I presume) from volcanic activity .Would this make scientists rethink the source of the haematite in Meridiani.Is the haematite water related or volcanic in origin?It seems that with the new opportunity findings of bigger sized blueberries around Victoria are making scientists having second thoughts as to the role of subsurface or surface or if any water playing a role in the formation of haematite??Would you agree that haematite in gusev is more likely to be volcanic in origin or is it a clue to the watery past of Gusev basin?

Correct me if I'm wrong ,Nili fossae like other fracture systems,seem to be associated with tectonic areas,in this case with Syrtis Major. Would it be right to assume that water flowing along this fracture system would have been water runoff associated with volcanic eruptions from Syrtis major?Certainly that would not mean that the presence of clay formations in this area would mean that there was an ongoing hydrological cycle on Mars!Right or wrong?I am assuming that volcanic eruptions were episodic and thus water flowing within the fractures would have been episodic rather than water pooling for long periods of time!Any comments regarding this matter would be much appreciated.

Roughly how long does it take for water interacting with basalt to produce clay?

Well,if you followed the press briefing towards the end of it,Mike Malin himself sort of hinted that mars scientists could be still getting it wrong as regards the geochemistry of the gully flows.So there you may have a point Steve!

Looking closely at the bottom of sand dunes in Proctor crater,there seem to be dark toned spots which dont seem to be neither rocks nor darker sand .Any ideas as to their nature?

Would CRISM not give us an idea as to the make up of those layers?

I am guessing all those layers that we see are sedimentary layers made up of sulphate rock like the ones we have witnessed in Meridiani?!I presume we should have an idea now of the depth of the supposed lake deposits underneath Gusev crater!Right or wrong?If only we could have landed Spirit in one of these craters!

Latest flyby should have determined the composition of the dunes.Any news yet!?

I'm 35;are you suggesting I'm too old for this stuff!!?

Those North polar layer ice deposits look exactly like a glacier here on Earth!Amazing

I fully agree with;there's a great possiblity for such a sea.The new lakes we see thou seem to dismiss the idea that lakes have to be somehow linked to volcanic calderas . The new shapes suggest otherwise.

Anyone dare give a guess as to the angle of that slope going down Duck bay!!

Thats the MRO image I was talking about except you have to zoom in!The rocks are described as being part of the ejecta blanket from exhumed craters.

Looking at the MRO image of the region close to where Phoenix should make its landing,I would think JPl should be concerned about stone slabs littering the whole area.Has anyone given any consideration as this may be a serious hindrance to a safe landing.

Sorry guys for starting a new thread;forgot there was one already.I thought its time to start a serious discussion about this matter not that JPL will take heed of our suggestions!!Anyways probably its true that we'll have to have better coverage of the entire crater rim before such a decision is made thou I must say perhaps the MRO IMAGE may be of some use already!

Duck bay seems to be the best entry point if it is decided that Oppy should enter into Vicky.It is the largest bay around the rim of the crater and hence the slope down the bay should be the most gentle of them all.Any ideas as to the angle of the slope down Duck bay?There is also a whole stack of stones uncovered and dust free which seem to reach deeper into the crater than anywhere else.That should stabilize the rover by means of a firm grip by driving on slabs rather than sand as was the case when Oppy entered Endurance.

IMHO

Any ideas regarding this matter?

Looking at the huge stack of sedimentary layers in Holden crater would seem to show Gusev site as rather disappointing due to lack of such layers.One could only imagine such layers hidden underneath where Spirit is now.Perhaps a good look at Maadim vallis could show any previous traces of flowing water and traces of the once lake inside Gusev crater!

The Cerberus Fossae pic by MRO says it all.Now we get to see the REAL MARS!No need for planes or balloons!

I dont see any problem for Oppy to enter Victoria;the slopes in the alcoves seem to be gentle enough.

The slope to the right of Oppy seems to be a a good entry point right down onto the huge rock sitting onthe slope of the crater wall.

Could someone kindly explain the relations between supersaturation of Titan atmosphere,cloud formation and precipitation.

John S has seen the first pics from NH of Jupiter as stated in the planetary blog;I kindly ask him to put those first images on this site.Thanks

Main objective should be to get a Europa lander safely with a technique that has been proved to work (in the case of Mars).I believe the airbag system should be the solution if so many uncertainties exist on the characteristics of the Europan surface.One should opt for simpler ways rather than be complicated.

Being modest,I'd still say that 3 days lifetime for a Europa lander is too short!With Mars we can launch every 2 years and it takes about 7 months to get there.I'm sure we wont be having so frequent missions to Europa so each mission to Jupiter has to be ambitious compared to Mars missions.And yes I like your suggestions regarding seismometers and observing Jupiter from close up.Realistically,we have to find a way how to deal with radiation.That I think should be the limiting factor.