NASA's Curiosity Rover has unveiled a breathtaking 360° panorama of the Martian surface, capturing a mysterious field of bright white sulfur stones and other intriguing features in the Gediz Vallis channel.
The images, taken on November 2 and October 11, 2024, offer a glimpse into the Red Planet's complex past as it transitioned from a wet world to a drier climate billions of years ago.
The sulfur stones, first discovered by Curiosity this past summer, have fascinated and puzzled scientists.
When the Rover crushed one of the stones, it revealed yellow crystals inside, prompting further analysis.
Curiosity's instruments confirmed these were pure sulfur, a material typically associated with volcanic or hydrothermal activity on Earth. However, no evidence of such activity has been found at Mount Sharp, the 3-mile-tall mountain where the rover is exploring.
"We looked at the sulfur field from every angle—from the top and the side—and looked for anything mixed with the sulfur that might give us clues as to how it formed," Curiosity's project scientist Ashwin Vasavada at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California said in a statement.
"We've gathered a ton of data, and now we have a fun puzzle to solve."
The Gediz Vallis channel, where the stones were found, is itself a geological enigma. How it formed during Mars' drying climate remains unclear.
The area appears to bear the marks of ancient rivers, wet debris flows, and dry avalanches. A debris mound nicknamed "Pinnacle Ridge," visible in the new panorama, offers further clues to the region's geological history.
Curiosity's journey through Gediz Vallis has provided critical data for reconstructing the timeline of water activity in the area. Although the mountain's older layers formed in a dry climate, evidence suggests occasional water flow occurred as Mars' climate changed.
Before departing the channel in late September, Curiosity captured a last look at the sulfur stones on October 11.
What Is the Mars Curiosity Rover Doing Now?
Now, Curiosity is embarking on a months-long trek toward a formation called the boxwork, a sprawling network of weblike ridges stretching across 6 to 12 miles.
These ridges are thought to have formed when minerals from Mount Sharp's final pulses of water crystallized within fractures in surface rock. As the surrounding rock eroded, the mineral-filled fractures were left behind, creating the boxwork.
"These ridges will include minerals that crystallized underground, where it would have been warmer, with salty liquid water flowing through," Kirsten Siebach of Rice University in Houston, a Curiosity scientist studying the region, said in the statement.
"Early Earth microbes could have survived in a similar environment. That makes this an exciting place to explore."
Unlike boxwork formations on Earth, which are typically found on cliffsides and in caves, the Martian boxwork stands out for its massive scale and unique formation during the planet's drying period.
Since its 2012 landing, Curiosity has traveled over 20 miles, investigating signs that ancient Mars could have supported microbial life.
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