Mars Pranks!

So the other day the Mars rover Opportunity was tooling along the surface of the Red Planet, taking pictures and examining things like it usually does. It sent a picture of what was in front of it. Then a couple of "solars" or "sols" later, it sent another picture of what was in front of it; which was the same place (a "solar" is one turn of Mars on its axis, or day. The Martian day is about 45 minutes longer than a terrestrial one). But this time there was a rock there.

The story notes that NASA scientists say the two most likely theories are that Opportunity flipped a rock over into its path when it was turning around or that a meteorite landed on Mars and a piece of the rock that flew up when it hit (called "ejecta," which sounds vaguely like something that would gain me the kind of hits on my blog I don't want) landed in front of the rover.

Of the two, the first is considered much more probable than the second, especially because one of Opportunity's wheels has stopped working properly and as it drags the ground it could scoot a rock along in front of it pretty easily.

Of course, they are the scientists and I am just a guy who runs my mouth, but I am dismayed by the lack of attention paid to the possibility that the rock is a sign of the activity of the repulsive ulsio, or many-legged Martian rat. Or alternatively, that it represents debris from a test of the Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator.

But sometimes it's hard to get scientists to keep open minds.