Curiosity rover finds vast honeycomb-like terrain on Mars

NASA’s Curiosity rover has found a vast field of mysterious honeycomb-like patterns on Mars, ERR reported. Scientists have not yet agreed on what caused the unusual formations.

The rover has previously detected polygonal shapes measuring up to eight centimetres across, but never on the scale visible in photographs taken in the Valle Grande valley.

The full extent of the formations can be seen in a 360-degree panorama captured on June 19 and 20, during the mission’s 4,930th and 4,931st Martian days. The polygons stretch in every direction and continue as far as the cameras can see.

The patterns also cover the slopes of the nearby Miraflores hill, which rises six metres above the surrounding terrain and has a thick layer of sand covering its summit.

Ashwin Vasavada, the Curiosity mission’s project manager, said the team had used the rover’s cameras to study several interesting landscapes, but the polygon field had made a particularly strong impression. Scientists carefully measured the shapes and their chemical composition in the hope of finding clues about how the formations developed.

How did the patterns form?

Scientists believe that some previously studied polygonal formations were created by cracks left in drying mud. Several different processes could have produced the recently photographed honeycomb structure.

Repeated warming and cooling, for example, can break the ground into geometric shapes. Similar patterns can also be created by pressure compressing sediments buried beneath the floor of a body of water. Scientists are continuing to analyse the formations to determine which process shaped the Valle Grande landscape.

The unexpected discovery is the latest in Curiosity’s mission, which began with the rover’s landing on Mars on August 5, 2012. Over the years, Curiosity has found sulphur crystals, reflective meteorites and other unusual geological features.

More importantly, data from Curiosity have completely changed scientists’ understanding of ancient Mars. The rover’s findings show that the planet once had water, as well as chemical compounds and nutrients that could have supported microbial life.

Evidence of Mars’ watery past

Scientists are convinced that billions of years ago, lakes and rivers existed at the lower foothills of Mount Sharp, a five-kilometre-high mountain that the rover has been climbing towards since 2014.

Curiosity has detected carbon-based molecules as chemical traces of that wetter era. These molecules are considered possible precursors to nucleic acids, including RNA and DNA.