NASA's Curiosity rover has discovered a vast field of honeycomb-shaped patterns covering a valley on Mars. The unusual landscape, located in a region called Valle Grande, features millions of small, geometric shapes spreading out across the ground in every direction.
Scientists call these textures "polygonal fractures." Each polygon measures between 1.5 and 3 inches wide. While the rover has seen smaller patches of these patterns before, mission officials say they have never found anything on such a massive scale.
Curiosity captured the scene in mid-June using a 360-degree panorama. Project scientist Ashwin Vasavada explained that the team carefully measured the shapes and chemical composition of the ground. Researchers hope these details will reveal how the strange landscape was formed.
The discovery offers exciting hints about the ancient environment of Mars. Curiosity has been climbing Mount Sharp, a 3-mile-tall mountain, since 2014. Billions of years ago, lakes and streams dappled the foothills of the mountain. Scientists believe the new polygon field could mean that water once filled Valle Grande as well.
On Earth, similar honeycomb patterns can form when wet mud dries up and cracks. They can also form through cycles of warm and cold temperatures, or when heavy pressure squeezes water out of buried sediment. Studying these Martian shapes could help scientists better understand the history of water on the Red Planet.