NASA’s Curiosity rover, a decade ago, detected another strange feature while exploring Mars. During its recent observation, the rover has imagined what looks like a dust-colored plant emerging from a rock on the red planet. According to the SETI Institute’s Twitter post, the odd-looking feature is “most likely the cemented fillings of old fractures in a sedimentary rock.” This finding is significant, as sedimentary rocks are formed from pre-existing rocks or pieces of previously living organisms. The SETI institute also explained that the rest of the rock where the small pillars are located “was made of softer material and was eroded”.
#PPOD: Here’s another fantastic rock in Gale crater on Mars! Spikes are probably the cemented fillings of ancient fractures in a sedimentary rock. The rest of the rock was made of softer material and eroded. 📷: @NASA @NASAJPL @Caltech #MSSS fredk, acquired May 17th. pic.twitter.com/RGfjmRBfI7
– The SETI Institute (@SETIInstitute) May 26, 2022
Notably, this is not the first time the Curiosity rover has encountered an amazing discovery of mineral rocks in Gale Crater, its site of exploration. In early February this year, Curiosity project scientist Abigail Fraeman shared an exciting image with a flower-shaped rock.
Curiosity detects a flower-shaped rock on Mars
On Twitter, Fraeman explained what the flower-shaped structure was like. He said the microscopic image has a delicate structure formed by minerals precipitated from the water. In a second tweet, the scientist said the mission team has also found these structures in the past. These structures are the most prominent in the Pahrump Hills region on Mars, and according to Fraeman, these features were made of salts called sulfates.
The rover is currently exploring the red planet at ‘Mirador Butte’, a place on Mount Sharp, also called Aeolis Mons inside Gale Crater. In a recent mission update, the Curiosity team revealed that climbing the terrain of Mount Sharp is extremely difficult and that the rover’s Mast Camera or MastCam is “very busy” in this landscape. The mission team revealed that some dust is forming on Gale Crater, but Curiosity is heading up for further investigation. “Our environment and atmosphere group continues to monitor the atmosphere with observations of the opacity of the atmosphere every single (Martian day) of the plan,” the mission team said in a blog post.
Image: Twitter / @ SETIInstitute