Curiosity, NASA’s battle-scarred rover, has been exploring the Purple Planet since 2012 like a cosmic detective, and now it’s stumbled into a wierd space close to Mount Sharp. The bottom right here is etched with boxwork patterns—delicate, crisscrossing ridges that appear to be nature’s tackle a waffle iron.
From orbit, the boxwork ridges on Mars appear to be delicate spiderwebs. Nonetheless, they’re simply low, ridges—barely a number of inches tall—etched into the planet’s bedrock. Scientists say these fashioned billions of years in the past as groundwater seeped via cracks, depositing minerals that set like cement. winds then carved away the softer stone, leaving these robust lattices standing.
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Curiosity paused at a rock dubbed “Altadena” on June 8, 2025, drilling out a pattern that stands out from the remainder of the Mount Sharp. It’s laced with high quality cracks full of white calcium sulfate veins—salty traces of historic groundwater that trace at Mars’ wetter previous. Abigail Fraeman, Curiosity’s deputy challenge scientist at JPL, calls this a stunning twist: “These calcium sulfate veins was once in all places, however they kind of disappeared as we climbed larger up. The crew is worked up to determine why they’ve returned now.” The rover’s devices at the moment are analyzing the Altadena Altadena pattern, looking for natural molecules or different indicators of a once-habitable world.
This boxwork area isn’t isn’t only a snapshot of Mars’ previous—it’s a puzzle of its evolution. The ridges sit inside a sulfate-rich layer, a clue that this space fashioned as Mars’ planet’s local weather grew drier. But, the groundwater proof suggests water lingered underground, shaping the panorama even because the planet’s floor turned desert. The patterns stretch for miles, some spanning 6 to 12 miles throughout Mount Sharp, hinting at an enormous scale of this course of. “The boxwork patterns present that even within the midst of this drying, water was nonetheless current underground, creating adjustments seen right this moment,” notes the Curiosity crew.
Since touching down in Gale Crater, Curiosity has racked up roughly 20 miles, weaving via rocky channels like Gediz Vallis, the place it lately dug up pure sulfur stones. Now, roaming the boxwork terrain, the rover’s Mastcam weaves collectively gorgeous mosaics, like a 291-image panorama that makes this Martian panorama pop. The pictures are color-adjusted to imitate Earth’s lighting, which explains the blue sky, and present the rover’s tracks carving via the mud, with a butte dubbed ‘Texoli’ looming on the correct and Gale Crater’s rim faintly seen within the distance
What’s subsequent for Curiosity? Extra drilling, extra samples, extra questions. The crew plans to probe bigger boxwork ridges farther afield, evaluating their minerals to Altadena’s. They’re additionally looking out for natural molecules, the constructing blocks of life, preserved in these cemented ridges.
