NASA’s Curiosity rover has entered a Martian valley covered by an astonishing “sea” of tiny polygon-shaped fractures. The honeycomb patterns, each only a few inches wide, stretch across the landscape and even wrap around a nearby 20-foot-tall butte.

NASA’s Curiosity rover has entered a Martian valley covered by an astonishing “sea” of tiny polygon-shaped fractures. The honeycomb patterns, each only a few inches wide, stretch across the landscape and even wrap around a nearby 20-foot-tall butte.

    • tb_@lemmy.worldEnglish
      11·
      14 days ago

      That’s a conclusion the article doesn’t leap to:

      What Created the Honeycomb Patterns?

      Some polygonal formations previously examined by Curiosity clearly began as cracks in drying mud. However, several different processes can produce this kind of honeycomb appearance.

      Repeated warming and cooling can fracture the ground into geometric shapes. Compression may also create similar patterns by forcing water out of sediment after the material becomes buried beneath the surface.

      Scientists are now studying the newly discovered formations to determine which of these processes, or possibly a combination of them, shaped the landscape in Valle Grande.

    • jaybone@lemmy.zipEnglish
      3·
      14 days ago

      Does that mean this mountain could be a volcano?

      Billions of years ago, lakes and streams were scattered across the lower foothills of Mount Sharp, a 3-mile-tall (5-kilometer-tall) mountain that Curiosity has been climbing since 2014.

      Also has this rover been climbing the same mountain for 12 years? How close is it to the top?

      • tb_@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        14 days ago

        The rover’s speed is measured in meters per day I’m pretty sure, it goes at a very slow pace.

        Edit: yes. Given tests I imagine it frequently travels a lot less than that.

        Based on variables including power levels, terrain difficulty, slippage and visibility, the maximum terrain-traverse speed is estimated to be 200 m (660 ft) per day by automatic navigation.

        Further edit: NASA has an interactive map of its journey so far, neat.
        https://science.nasa.gov/mission/msl-curiosity/location-map/