Mars Rover Discovers Mysterious Field of Honeycomb Textures on Red Planet: ‘Took Our Breath Away’

NASA’s Curiosity Finds a Vast Sea of Mysterious Polygons on Mars

Curiosity has found a vast sea of Martian polygons that may reveal how water and climate once reshaped the Red Planet. NASA’s Curiosity rover has encountered an enormous field of honeycomb-shaped fractures while climbing through a Martian valley known as “Valle Grande.” Each geometric feature measures roughly 1.5 to 3 inches (4 to 8 centimeters) [...]

Mars Rover Discovers Mysterious Field of Honeycomb Textures on Red Planet: ‘Took Our Breath Away’

As NASA’s Curiosity rover ascended the Martian valley named Valle Grande back in June, it sent back images of a landscape covered in honeycomb-like textures. “We’ve seen a lot of fascinating landscapes through Curiosity’s eyes, but this sea of polygons took our breath away,” said the mission’s project scientist, Ashwin Vasavada of NASA’s Jet Propulsion […] The post Mars Rover Discovers Mysterious Field of Honeycomb Textures on Red Planet: ‘Took …

NASA's Curiosity Rover Discovers Vast Honeycomb Landscape on Mars

NASA’s Curiosity rover has discovered a remarkable landscape on Mars unlike anything it has seen before. While exploring a valley known as “Valle Grande,” the rover found an enormous field covered with small honeycomb-shaped patterns stretching as far as its cameras could see. Curiosity captured the stunning scene in a 360-degree panorama taken on June […] The post NASA’s Curiosity Rover Discovers Vast Honeycomb Landscape on Mars appeared first …

NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover Discovers a Field of Honeycomb Textures

NASA's Curiosity rover has sent back images of honeycomb-like textures called polygonal fractures, each one about 1.5 to 3 inches (4 to 8 centimeters) across. NASA reports: The mission has spotted small patches of these geometric shapes several times before, but nothing at the scale discovered in Valle Grande. In a 360-degree panorama that the rover captured on June 19 and 20, the 4,930th and 4,931st Martian days, or sols, of the mission, the po…