In June last year, the rover discovered several bizarre, twisting structures jutting out of Mars’ surface, which are now assumed to be naturally occurring columns called hoodoos.Īccording to experts, the columns were most likely formed from cement-like material that formerly filled old fissures in Martian bedrock. This isn’t the first time the Curiosity Rover has beamed up images that has baffled people on planet Earth. One Twitter user wrote, “it looks like a very easy-to-crumble fish vertebra, ‘fish fossils, a mackerel fillet, or skeleton of some prehistoric creature.” While another one wrote, “I’m happy to believe that’s the back of a fossilised Martian dragon, curled up in its final resting place.” Ms, Cabrol also stated that it was most likely the “remains of ripples after lots of erosion.” ‘If it blows over loose sand for a sufficiently long number of aeons, any geometric form known to mankind may ultimately be produced,’ wrote Twitter user Martin Weil. Some speculate that Martian winds eroded the rocks over a long period of time. ‘Really unusual, never seen anything like this and I have been looking at Mars photographs since the Sojourner mission back in 1997,’ another person said. There are others who believe that most of the people who see bones of fir bark in those rocks are reading into things that simply aren’t there. Cabrol, an astronomer, posted a snapshot of it on Twitter, saying, “In 20 years of studying Mars, that’s the most bizarre rock I’ve ever seen.” It is also continuously sending back photographs of weird things it encounters, such as this spiky rock formation. The rover’s mission objectives include studying the Martian environment and geology as well as preparing for human exploration. The crater that remains where the lake once stood, is about 154 kilometres wide today. The Gale Crater, where the bones were found used to be one of the largest lakes on Mars, before it dried up, somewhere between 3.5 and 3.8 billion years ago. It is now a widely accepted fact that Mars, at one point had large waterbodies on its surfaces, and may possibly have some water beneath its surface today as well. The location where the “bone” like rocks were found is also interesting. So something of this sort developing on Mars is pretty impossible. One thing’s for sure though – both camps believe that it is implausible that a natural rock gets formed in that shape, even on Earth. Some people who have seen the images believe it to be the remains of a fish, while others believe it looks more like the branch of a fir tree. Curiosity has been roaming the Gale Crater since August 2012 as part of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission. The images, which have caused a major debate online were taken on April 1, using Curiosity’s mast camera and ChemCam. The images were taken at the base of 154 kilometres long Gale Crater on Mars. Images shared by the Curiosity Rover show a bunch of spikes protruding out of a rock-like structure.

However, what really sets these structures apart is that they look like the skeletal remains of pre-historic animal. The images are of a set of structures which are assumed to be that of a rock formation. On Twitter, Facebook, Google News, and Instagram.In its most recent set of images uploaded, NASA’s Curiosity rover has shared a number of images of a strange structure on Mars. The rover will distinguish the planet's geology and past climate, laying the groundwork for future human exploration of the Red Planet.įollow HT Tech for the latest tech news and reviews, also keep up with us NASA Perseverance's mission on Mars was launched on July 30, 2020, with its key objective to search for signs of ancient microbial life on the Red Planet. However, the diversification of the formation of the nature and distribution of organic molecules suggests that “different aqueous alteration or deposition processes occurred, possibly contributing to the diversity of organic matter still present.” Hence, scientists couldn't identify the exact source of the organic matter on Mars and will need to return the sample to Earth for detailed analysis in the lab. Sunanda Sharma, Astrobiologist at NASA's Mars Perseverance Rover, says that the origin of the organic molecule on the surface of Mars can be from several sources. What does organic matter indicate on Marsĭr.

Nasa mars rover marks its year