Curiosity has just finished the latest leg of its 12-year Mars mission and will now set out to explore miles of web-like surface features left behind by ancient water on the Red Planet. The zig-zagging rocks could also provide clues about whether Mars once harbored extraterrestrial life.
NASA's Curiosity rover will soon explore a patch of spiderweb-like "boxwork" features on Mars. This photo, taken in 2006, shows a similar area to the one that the rover will explore
The ever-reliable Curiosity rover is about to begin a new quest to study giant "spiderwebs" on Mars' surface, after successfully concluding its previous mission, NASA has announced. The web-like rocks span for miles and may hold secrets about the Red Planet's watery past Over the last year, Curiosity has been exploring Gediz Vallis — a channel carved into the steep slopes of Mount Sharp at the heart of Gale Crater. During this stage of its 12-year mission on Mars, the rover made some important discoveries, including accidentally unveiling crystals of pure sulfur and finding "wavey" rocks left behind by an ancient lake. Mission scientists also first noticed a large hole in one of the rover's wheels as the wandering robot traversed this region's steep slopes.
But the rover's time in Gediz Vallis is about to come to a close. On Nov. 18, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) released a final 360-degree "selfie" of the area taken by Curiosity as it prepared to head off on the next leg of its epic journey, which has already lasted a decade longer than initially expected.