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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Insight" data-source="post: 5301891" data-attributes="member: 11437">June 8TriCalc confimed what I've been thinking for the past twelve hours.  The source of that second transmission is the southern slope of Calaveras Mons.  If only I could get eyes down there to see not only what could be transmitting these beeps, but also to learn the fate of my scouters.  Perhaps when the explorers come...I pulled up what my libraries have on the Calaveras Mons area.  Some rovers were sent there in 2018.  Calaveras Mons was for a long time called Ascraeus Mons.  Calaveras got its new name from Dr. Stan Carver, who lived in Calaveras County, California, his entire life.  Dr. Carver revolutionized the study of Martian vulcanology and renamed several of the active or recently-dormant volcanoes in the area.  Of course, Calaveras County, on Earth, looks nothing like the 21 kilometer behemoth I see in these images.  The rover images I found from that 2018 expedition don't reveal much of the coordinates I seek.  Mostly red rocks, boulders, and broken lands.  All of Mars' southern hemisphere looks like this, so I should expect nothing less.  The "canals" famously thought to hold the prospects of life, are nearby.  For a long time, astronomers believed that the canals were proof that life had existed or still exists on Mars.  Of course, scientific explorations of Mars in the latter part of last century and to the present day have revealed these canals to be nothing more than collapsed lava tubes.Still, interest in Mars and its exploration have not abated.  Our own President Gill tells the story that, as a boy, he wanted to grow up to be an astronaut so that he might be the first man to set foot on Mars.  That wasn't to be, of course, as my own mentor, Dr. John Fowler, had the honor almost a decade ago.  Sadly, it is unlikely that the first Martian colony will be built under the Gill administration; his successor is likely to be the one to complete it.Sometimes, I wonder why we even want to colonize this dead world.  Sure, Mars possesses a wealth of natural resources.  Beyond simple mining, however, what reasons other than novelty could draw someone to want to live on Mars?  I suppose business interests aside, simply being part of the first settlement outside the Earth astrosphere would be something of an accomplishment.  Count me out, though.  A year orbiting this red planet is enough for me.</blockquote>

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