Since its August 6, 2012 landing, the rover has arrived curiousity Explore the surface of Mars. Among the tasks of the robotic car is to send us pictures on Earth of what it looks like on this planet, which is more than 240 million kilometers away from us.
And from time to time, she takes pictures that make many people open their eyes.
The rover did so, too, in early April. The photos show an oblong stone in the sand with thorns showing.
– In the twenty years I’ve studied Mars, it’s the most unusual rock I’ve ever seen. “I’m looking forward to getting a microscope image of this,” noted astrobiologist Natalie Cabrol writes about the rover’s images.
The image, taken at the planet’s Gale Crater, has spawned a number of theories as to what it could be. Many have wondered if it could be a fossil of an extinct fish or lizard, but the answer is likely not exciting, according to the researchers.
Andreas Johnson, a professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Gothenburg who has been searching for Mars since 2006, believes erosion is behind the strange “ripples,” he says. Aftonbladet.
Erosion is a process in which rocks, minerals, soil, or other loose masses are eroded and transported to another location by wind, water, or ice.
Still, he admits, the new photos are exciting:
Yes, it’s really a strange formation. However, Mars has presented a number of unexpected formations over the years. Mars is special because winds are the main cause of erosion. Mountains can descend into almost thin layers before collapsing, he told Aftonbladet.
It’s the same explanation given by Andrew Judd, a NASA researcher at the time Fox News I wondered what the pictures showed.
“These minerals were harder than the surrounding mountain, so the wind eroded away everything but the minerals,” Judd, who works at a NASA laboratory in California, tells Channel.
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