NASA’s Curiosity Rover Sends Back Images Of ‘Flower’ Formation On Mars

The Curiosity rover, which has been traveling through Mars as NASA’s “eyes,” has uncovered an intriguing “flower” formation on the surface of the Red Planet that looks akin to an ocean coral.

“We’re finding things on Mars that are tantalizingly interesting, but we would really need more evidence to say we’ve identified life,” said Paul Mahaffy, former principal investigator of the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) chemistry lab onboard Curiosity.

“So we’re looking at what else could have caused the carbon signature we’re seeing, if not life,” he told WION News.

According to CNET, Kevin Gill, known for processing NASA space images, had first tweeted about the tiny find, aptly calling it “a Martian flower.” 

In order to capture the minuscule formation, Curiosity had to use its Mars Hand Lens Imager (Mahli) instrument, which is meant to be “the rover’s version of the magnifying hand lens that geologists usually carry with them into the field.” 

In fact, as tweeted by Abigail Fraeman, the microscopic feature is actually even smaller than a US penny, and it appears the “teeny, tiny delicate structures” were formed by “minerals precipitating from water.” 

Take a closer look at the special phenomenon below.

A Martian Flower 🌻. Imaged by @MarsCuriosity yesterday on Sol 3397 using MAHLI and ChemCam.https://t.co/DIPAVsnUvKhttps://t.co/iPCVDaGK15https://t.co/tCEfaKEvVr pic.twitter.com/6tkRV59Fpl

— Kevin M. Gill (@kevinmgill) February 25, 2022

(2/3) We've seen structures like these before, most prominently all the way back at Pahrump Hills. There, the features were made of salts called sulfates. https://t.co/nzXxQvHug0https://t.co/iziQFDGiLC pic.twitter.com/kwusstN5tu

— Abigail Fraeman (@abbyfrae) February 26, 2022

[via WION News and CNET, cover image via NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/Kevin M. Gill]