Floating spoonfound on Mars!

[AngelLestat]

You don't need a geologist, you need a pragmatist!

There is no scale reference, nor is there a reliable source. This picture can be anything, anywhere and any when. For all we know it has been photo shopped. All we have here is a picture. Nothing more, nothing less.

In the nasa picture we can see the shadow of the vehicle, enoght to give us a sense of scale, is how I said in the begining, it has the same scale than a woden spoon used to cook.

http://img1.foodservicewarehouse.com/Prd/1900SQ/ThunderGroup_WDSP018.jpg

In the other side of the picture we can see another spoon formation but more wider.

Edited September 9, 2015 by AngelLestat

[Motokid600]

There are similar structures all around it.

[NovaSilisko]

Tough upper layer, a thin vein of rock, with a softer layer beneath it - perhaps some sort of sandstone. That's my explanation. The lower layer erodes away from the wind over the aeons, leaving only the spoon intact. I don't think such a structure could form in the presence of water very effectively though, it would be eroded away very fast. So it's certainly formed well after Mars' water has been gone. I'd bet if you so much as tapped it, it would snap off. Only the fact Mars' winds are extremely thin and gentle has left it around, along with the lower gravity reducing the strain. It does look to only be attached on the right side, rather than an arch.

I wonder what bigger features lurk out there...

Edited September 10, 2015 by NovaSilisko

[kiwi1960]

I have it figured out... there is hard rock and sand at that location, a small piece of lava formed the spoon, which was at that time covered with sand...

the sand has blown away leaving the spoon.

BTW, as the OP, I can at least testify to the fact that our on line news service, STUFF, is very reliable.. they fact check before posting because of a few hoaxes they fell for a few years back.

[RainDreamer]

Either way, I think we all know this is not alien silverware lying around at this point. Beside, why would aliens use spoons that looks like ours?

[lajoswinkler]

The whole area is filled with such slender structures. It would probably crumble under human weight on Mars. It's sedimentary rock erroded by the storms over the aeons. Looks very nice, but it's aeolic erosion of a sedimentary deposits. I don't know what that "spoon" is made of, but you can see a lightly colored sedimentary vein running down the slope and that looks like quartz.

Nothing we don't have here and you've seen it a number of times.

Edited September 10, 2015 by lajoswinkler

[AngelLestat]

We know that is not a trully spoon, just a particular shape made by erosion and different layer materials.

But the resemble is amazing. Looks 3d printing, more taking into account that seems to float due how thin is its joint.

I remember all the older formation ilusions found on mars, like the "Face", but they was not even close and its natural formation origin was too obvious.

[RainDreamer]

It makes me think about alien biology, their cultures, their cuisines, and the tools that they may use to cook/eat their food if there is any...but perhaps that is for another thread

[Nikolai]

Beside, why would aliens use spoons that looks like ours?

Because their digestive systems can break food into useful components more easily when the food is heated, but too much heat can cause damage to their biological grasping and holding structures, so they invented a tool to carry a small amount of food to their food-hole (which is usually smaller than the amount of food they consume in a sitting) without hurting themselves with the heat.

Really, it's a bowl on a stick. It's pretty utilitarian; we might not even expect that a spoon designed by an alien intelligence would be remarkably different from a human spoon.

But this? This is not a spoon. It's a rock.

[RainDreamer]

Because their digestive systems can break food into useful components more easily when the food is heated, but too much heat can cause damage to their biological grasping and holding structures, so they invented a tool to carry a small amount of food to their food-hole (which is usually smaller than the amount of food they consume in a sitting) without hurting themselves with the heat.

Really, it's a bowl on a stick. It's pretty utilitarian; we might not even expect that a spoon designed by an alien intelligence would be remarkably different from a human spoon.

But this? This is not a spoon. It's a rock.

Well, that would require them to have grasping appendages in the first place, perhaps even hands like us for sophisticate tool use in the human style. And that would eliminate quite a lot of possibilities of what an alien might be. What if they have tentacles instead? Their tools would be very different than species with hands and digits and opposable thumbs. But again, this is not for this thread.

[magnemoe]

Well, that would require them to have grasping appendages in the first place, perhaps even hands like us for sophisticate tool use in the human style. And that would eliminate quite a lot of possibilities of what an alien might be. What if they have tentacles instead? Their tools would be very different than species with hands and digits and opposable thumbs. But again, this is not for this thread.

With no grasping appendages they can not make an spoon in the first place.

As Nicolay says its an bowl on a stick, its not really designed to fit human hands. Now the bowl part might be different as its designed for human mouths, both size and deepness might be different for aliens but it would still look like an spoon.