{"id":52344,"date":"2026-10-20T08:46:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T12:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/?p=52344"},"modified":"2026-10-19T08:20:56","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T12:20:56","slug":"in-mars-gale-crater-nasas-curiosity-rover-photographed-unusually-broad-shallow-pits-in-bedrock-one-roughly-0-4-inches-across-and-the-missions-september-3-update-still-could-not-explain-how-t","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/in-mars-gale-crater-nasas-curiosity-rover-photographed-unusually-broad-shallow-pits-in-bedrock-one-roughly-0-4-inches-across-and-the-missions-september-3-update-still-could-not-explain-how-t\/52344\/","title":{"rendered":"In Mars’ Gale Crater, NASA’s Curiosity rover photographed unusually broad, shallow pits in bedrock, one roughly 0.4 inches across, and the mission’s September 3 update still could not explain how they formed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NASA\u2019s Curiosity rover has photographed unusually broad, shallow pits in Martian bedrock, including one roughly 0.4 inches across. An image created on August 19, 2026, captures the puzzle, which NASA\u2019s September 3 mission update<\/a> left unresolved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why pay attention to a hole smaller than a dime? Curiosity is exploring rock layers that preserve clues to Mars\u2019 transformation from a world with lakes and streams into a freezing desert. Its route through Valle Grande<\/a>, on Mount Sharp inside Gale Crater, puts those tiny details within a much larger environmental story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Small holes, big questions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Michelle Minitti, deputy principal investigator for Curiosity\u2019s Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), described the features as \u201cunlike quite anything we have seen in the past.\u201d The pits appeared in two of the rover\u2019s work areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pits themselves are familiar. Resistant nodules or pebbles can weather out of surrounding rock, leaving cavities, but these examples were wider and shallower than previous ones, without obvious objects that once filled them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That distinction leaves a geological question to investigate. An unusual shape does not, by itself, establish an unknown natural process, and a photograph alone cannot tell the complete story of how a rock changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A closer look in three dimensions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

MAHLI sits at the end of Curiosity\u2019s robotic arm and gives scientists close views of rock textures<\/a>, minerals, and structures. Think of the hand lens a geologist might carry on a field trip, with the images sent home from another planet. At close range, it can resolve features smaller than the width of a human hair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team acquired stereo mosaics and overlapping images suitable for building digital elevation models of the pits. Those models describe surface shape in three dimensions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mastcam provides another perspective from cameras mounted about 6.5 feet above the ground. Its color images document the surrounding landscape and help the team plan driving and sampling, connecting close-up details with the terrain around them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The surrounding rocks matter<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Nearby gray, rough layers also drew attention because they resisted erosion differently from surrounding bedrock. Scientists investigated their chemistry alongside their appearance. Changes between closely spaced layers might also record shifts in the conditions where sediments accumulated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Curiosity\u2019s APXS instrument measures chemical elements in rocks and soil, while ChemCam uses laser pulses and analyzes the resulting light to investigate composition. Those tools answer questions a camera cannot, such as whether differently colored surfaces contain different proportions of elements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A useful way to think about the investigation is to separate shape from ingredients. Two rocks can look similar but have different compositions, and comparing those properties helps scientists test explanations. The missing piece is how those clues fit together at this particular location.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reading an ancient environment<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Curiosity\u2019s broader route passes through terrain rich in sulfates<\/a>, salty minerals that can preserve evidence of past water. NASA reported its arrival in this region in 2022, noting the hypothesis that ancient streams and ponds left minerals behind as they dried.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the substances are surprisingly familiar, including calcium sulfate and magnesium sulfate (Epsom salt is one form of the latter). Their presence gives researchers clues to environmental conditions, although identifying a mineral is only one step toward reconstructing the setting where it formed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The history is more complicated than a steady march toward dryness. In 2023, NASA reported preserved wave ripples<\/a> in this supposedly drier region, evidence that a shallow lake<\/a> once stirred sediment into patterns that later became rock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Water does not automatically mean life<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Curiosity has already uncovered much stronger evidence of ancient water than an unexplained depression could provide. Near its landing area, rounded pebbles pointed to a former stream, while more than 1,000 vertical feet of rock at Mount Sharp originally formed as lake mud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those discoveries help scientists investigate whether ancient Mars offered conditions suitable for microbes. The rover has also detected organic molecules<\/a>, but NASA stresses that such compounds can arise through geological or biological processes, so their presence alone does not establish life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is a useful distinction when an unfamiliar Mars image starts circulating. The scientific value lies in what measurements reveal about the environment, and an unanswered question can be worth investigating without attaching a dramatic explanation to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More clues along the route<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A later NASA update, published September 30, described a separate puzzle involving small, disc-shaped features in the terrain. These measured about 0.12 to 0.16 inches across, and researchers considered mineral crystal growth or accumulated fragments of a harder layer as possible explanations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That report also outlined preparations for drilling farther along the route, allowing Curiosity\u2019s CheMin instrument to identify minerals through X-ray diffraction. It did not settle the earlier pit mystery, but it showed how imaging, chemical measurements, and mineral analysis fit together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For readers following the mission, the next useful development will be an explanation supported by measurements and comparisons with the surrounding rocks. The latest official mission update discussed here was published on NASA Science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/MSSS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NASA\u2019s Curiosity rover has photographed unusually broad, shallow pits in Martian bedrock, including one roughly 0.4 inches across. An image … <\/p>\n

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