NASA's Curiosity rover has spotted a strange honeycomb texture on the surface of Mars. But what is it?
What is it?
Almost 14 years since landing on the Red Planet, Curiosity is still hard at work exploring. And in new observations, Curiosity has revealed an image that is certainly ... peculiar.
Curiosity went to get a closer look at an area first observed from Mars orbit, and found what appears to be a honeycomb structure in on the planet's surface. Polygonal shapes, nearly identical to one another, make up a pattern almost like a Martian wallpaper or carpet.
But what is it? Why does it look like that? What is a honeycomb doing on Mars?
Why is it incredible?
This is one of many mysteries we have yet to solve on Mars. While the team saw this area first from orbit around the planet, when the rover arrived and saw this structure they were surprised, they shared in a blog post.
In addition to the honeycomb texture, the area was littered with dark rocks and strewn around. But even these pebbles lack explanation. Did they "float" down from higher rock levels, did they launch out of Gale crater during some ancient collision or could they possibly even be meteorites from outside of Mars that ended up strewn across the surface? Researchers think any one of these explanations could be possible.
Previous, similar dark stones have been found on Mars with minerals like nickel that are common in meteorites and uncommon in Mars rocks. But are these similar? Perhaps part of a similar collision event? We don't yet know.
As researchers find new mysteries on Mars, they also continue to find new ways to investigate the unknown. With further study, they will explore both these strange honeycombs and the dark rocks scattered amongst them.
