Strange spikes on Mars

Curiosity self-propelled robot discovered "sinewy" rocks on May 15, according to images sent back to Earth.

An unusually shaped stone pillar discovered by Curiosity.

Photos taken on March 3,474 on Mars of the mission as Curiosity approached the end of its first decade of activity on the red planet on Aug. "The sharp rock pillars are most likely the result of the filling of ancient cracks in sedimentary rocks," the SETI Institute explained on May 26. "Sedimentary rock is formed from many layers of sand and water, but the rest of the rock column is made of softer and eroded material."

The shape of the rock column may be due to the influence of the gravity of Mars, which is only 1/3 of the gravity on Earth. However, SETI did not mention other environmental factors. They also do not specify the size of the stone column.

On days 3,743 and 3,745, Curiosity worked at a site at Mount Sharp (Aeolis Mons) named Mirador Butte, as announced by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Curiosity's Mast Camera (Mastcam) will be very busy at this interesting site, according to Susanne Schwenzer, a planetary scientist at the Open University in the UK. A layer of rock on a nearby hill called "Sierra Maigualida" can reveal the texture of the hilltop.

The Curiosity rover will also conduct a second target multispectral analysis called "San Pedro" and use stereo imaging to capture a feature formed from sediment through physical change and chemistry. Curiosity is participating in a long-term plan to find habitable conditions at Gale Crater.

A newer NASA robot, Perseverance, that landed on February 18, 2021, is searching for ancient bacteria in the river delta inside Jezero crater. According to the plan, Perseverance will store a number of samples to return to Earth on a future mission in the 2030s.