NASA ’s Curiosity rover is no alien to spying unusual rocky feature article after a decade of exploring the Martian surface – it was only a couple of months ago it even got tostop and smell the flowers . Now , the scouter has come across some inquisitively influence spikes , beam back an look-alike of a scene that would n’t look out of place in the Upside Down .
The " cool rock " was originally highlight by the SETI Institute ( Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence ) last hebdomad on Twitter , but the image was in reality taken on May 15 , or sol 3474 , agree toNASA .
oddment is exploring Gale Crater , and while occupy pictures ofweird matter on Marsis a fun pursuit , imaging strange feature gives scientist an idea of atmospheric condition circumstance and the type of rock at sealed locations , offering a coup d’oeil into the past and how these feature may have formed .
The full image of the spikes snapped by Curiosity’s MastCam on May 15. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
According to SETI , " The spikes are most likely the cemented fill of ancient fractures in a sedimentary rock and roll . The rest of the rock was made of softer material and was eroded away . "
With such a thin ambience – over 100 times flimsy than Earth ’s – the Martian landscape can be a harsh place . Strong winds of up to 100 kilometers per hour ( 62 miles per minute ) , ancient weewee , and occasionallyepic dust stormshave influenced the topography for millions of years , carving out features like these .
The full figure of the spikes crack by Curiosity ’s MastCam on May 15 . Image course credit : NASA / JPL - Caltech / MSSS
Mars ’s robotic scientists may send back a draw of pictures of rocks , but those rocks – ranging frommysterious purplecoated togreentohiding ancient waterand evensneakily hitching rides – leave us with insights into the Red Planet ’s history , its make - up , and sheds light on the ultimate interrogative sentence : has there ever been , or could there ever be , life-time on Mars ?
