NASA’s Curiosity rover has logged over a decade within the Gale Crater on Mars. It is a veteran of the purple planet, however Mars nonetheless has some surprises in retailer, like an historic lake mattress in an sudden place. 

The rover documented a panorama of gorgeous rocks that present distinctive indicators of water from Mars’ deep previous. “Billions of years in the past, waves on the floor of a shallow lake stirred up sediment on the lake backside, over time creating rippled textures left in rock,” NASA mentioned in an announcement on Wednesday. 

Curiosity is working its method up the decrease ranges of the crater’s large central mountain, Mount Sharp. One of many rover’s primary objectives is to seek out out if this space may need as soon as been liveable for microbial life. Understanding the crater’s historical past of water is a crucial element of the mission. 

“That is the perfect proof of water and waves that we have seen in your entire mission,” mentioned Curiosity mission scientist Ashwin Vasavada. “We climbed by way of 1000’s of ft of lake deposits and by no means noticed proof like this — and now we discovered it in a spot we anticipated to be dry.”    

NASA says the mountain acts like a timeline, with older layers on the backside and youthful layers on the the highest. The rippling rocks are in an space described because the Marker Band the place there is a distinctive layer of darkish rock. Curiosity has tried to drill into the fascinating rocks on this space to review them extra carefully, however the rocks are extremely onerous and have up to now foiled the rover’s makes an attempt. The crew nonetheless hopes to discover a softer rock to drill into.

The rippling lake rocks aren’t the one ones that caught scientists’ eyes. Curiosity additionally noticed some rocks with common layers on them. The formation of these rock layers continues to be below investigation, however could be linked to historic mud storms. “The wave ripples, particles flows, and rhythmic layers all inform us that the story of wet-to-dry on Mars wasn’t easy,” Vasavada mentioned. “Mars’ historic local weather had an exquisite complexity to it, very similar to Earth’s.”  

Curiosity’s sibling Perseverance rover can also be learning the stays of an historic lake over within the Jezero Crater. NASA hopes Percy will construct on Curiosity’s work and advance it even additional with the deliberate Mars Pattern Return mission. If all goes effectively, we might have precise rock samples from Jezero to review on Earth within the 2030s. We’d lastly get some clearer solutions about potential life on Mars way back.

Curiosity is working its method towards a scenic set of hills and cliffs. Up forward within the distance is proof of what could have been a moist landslide. The panorama is gorgeous. Stated Vasavada in a NASA video on the rippling rocks, “If this was on Earth, we would most likely make it a nationwide park.”