Glass Tubes of Mars

A most interesting feature came to light on Mars recently. Amid the over 60,000 newly-released images from the current unmanned NASA probe (MGS), non-NASA â??Enterprise Missionâ? researchers discovered a strange â??tubular structureâ? in the Martian deserts (MOC frame M04-00291), located at about 40 degrees north latitude. This remarkable â??tube,â? roughly a mile in length and hundreds of feet wide, appears to cling to a desert canyon wall near the canyonâ??s bottom, and extend along its entire length. The feature has the appearance of being â??translucent,â? of being supported at somewhat regular intervals by â??ribs,â? and of being quite cylindrical â?? with a localized, internal structure at one point of considerably higher albedo (brightness). To define this feature in purely geological terms has been a considerable challenge.