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NASA's Curiosity rover captured this Mars selfie in 2020. If NASA’s Curiosity rover could mail a postcard from Mars, its latest would probably read, “Dear Earth—Crazy landscape! Check out these wild sulfur stones. Moving on soon.
Wish you were here!” NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab released an eye-catching 360-degree view of a curious place on Mars called the Gediz Vallis channel on Nov. 18. The area speaks to the history of water on the red planet, and it marks the scene of a major geologic mystery involving sulfur crystals.
NASA's Curiosity rover captured a panoramic view of the Gediz Vallis region on Mars on Nov. 2. Curiosity has been exploring the Gale Crater on Mars since 2012.
The crater is home to Mount Sharp, a massive central mountain. The rover has been rolling around the lower reaches of Mount Sharp on a mission to understand if Mars might have been hospitable for microbial life long ago. The Gediz Vallis channel is in Mount Sharp’s foothills.
It’s a dry place today, but evidence points to a watery past. “Although older layers on the mountain had already formed in a dry climate, the channel suggests that water occasionally coursed through the area as the climate was changing,” NASA said. Rivers, debris flows and avalanches contributed to the look of the landscape.
Scientists are particularly interested in the history of water on Mars since water is a key ingredient for life as we know it. Explore the full scene on YouTube and look for highlights like the rover tracks, the distant crater rim and the channel itself: Curiosity made a surprise discovery of pure sulfur crystals at Gediz Vallis earlier this year. The rover rolled over a rock, exposed the crystals and launched researchers into a mystery that still has no clear answers.
“The team doesn’t have a ready explanation for why the sulfur formed there; on Earth, it’s associated with volcanoes and hot springs, and no evidence exists on Mount Sharp pointing to either of those causes,” NASA said. Curiosity project scientist Ashwin Vasavada called it “a fun puzzle to solve.” A closer look at the field of bright white sulfur stones along the Gediz Vallis channel in the Gale .
.. [+] Crater on Mars.
Scroll through the annotated panorama to spot the sulfur stones. This was the first discovery of pure sulfur on Mars. The panorama is a farewell to the intriguing channel region.
Curiosity has a new goal on the horizon. It’s kicking off a multi-month journey to an area of boxwork formations. Images from orbit show web-like landscapes that likely formed through processes involving water and erosion.
The orbital views might trigger people who suffer from trypophobia —a fear of clustered holes or bumps as seen in objects like honeycombs or sunflowers, warns JPL spokesperson Andrew Good over email. This weblike pattern is the boxwork region on Mars where NASA's Curiosity rover is heading next. .
.. [+] NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter snapped this view in 2006.
Boxwork formations can be found on Earth, often associated with caves and cliffs. The Mars boxwork is on a grand scale, covering an area of six to 12 miles. “These ridges will include minerals that crystallized underground, where it would have been warmer, with salty liquid water flowing through,” said Curiosity scientist Kirsten Siebach of Rice University in Houston.
“Early Earth microbes could have survived in a similar environment. That makes this an exciting place to explore.” Curiosity will give scientists an up-close view of the boxwork that can’t be replicated by orbiting spacecraft.
It may find another stunning discovery like the sulfur of Gediz Vallis. That’s the value of having a rover on the ground on Mars. You never know what it’s going to find.
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