NASA's Curiosity Rover Discovers Vast 'Honeycomb' Rock Field on Mars

NASA's Curiosity rover has discovered an astonishing, extensive field of small polygon-shaped rock patterns — described as honeycomb-like — inside Gale Crater, in an area informally called Valle Grande, ScienceDaily reported on July 31. While similar formations have been seen elsewhere on Mars, this is the first time such a large concentration has been found in a single location. The patterns measure roughly 1.3 to 3 inches across and wrap around a nearby 20-foot-tall butte.

An Unsolved Puzzle

Mission scientists have not yet determined how the formations arose. On Earth, similar patterns can form from drying mud, the expansion and contraction of underground ice, or mineral-rich groundwater — three very different histories with very different implications for ancient Mars. The team is studying the shapes for clues to the region's geological past.

Researchers hope the discovery will shed light on Mars' ancient geological history and past environments, the mission team said, since polygon fields can record episodes of wetting and drying.

Why It Matters

The discovery adds to Curiosity's long-running campaign to reconstruct the ancient environment of Gale Crater, which rover data have shown once held lakes and rivers. Understanding how the polygons formed could reveal whether the patterns record wet-dry cycles — conditions that can concentrate organic molecules and are of keen interest to astrobiologists hunting for habitable conditions in Mars' past.