When NASA’s Curiosity rover recently began ascending a Martian valley nicknamed “Big Valley,” it sent back images that were familiar to scientists on the mission: honeycomb textures called polygonal fractures, each about 1.5 to 3 inches (4 to 8 centimeters) wide. The mission has detected small specks of these geometric shapes several times before, but
This close-up view shows fragments of sulfur crystals, the first seen on the Red Planet. The crystals were found after NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover passed over and crushed a rock on May 30, 2024. Several days later, Curiosity used a camera on the end of its robotic arm to take this image. A recent paper