NASA’s Mars rover captures honeycomb landscape on Red Planet, scientists baffled: ‘Sea of polygons took our breath away’

NASA's Curiosity rover captured a breathtaking panoramic shot of honeycomb-like textures spread across the Red Planet. Scientists have spotted patches of these 1.5 to 3-inch small polygonal fractures many times. But nothing of this scale, as discovered in Martian valley “Valle Grande,” was seen before.

NASA said that its Curiosity rover recently began climbing up Valle Grande. It captured the images on June 19 and 20, the 4,930th and 4,931st Martian days, or sols, of the mission.

The images, NASA said, were a familiar sight to mission scientists: "honeycomb-like textures called polygonal fractures, each one about 1.5 to 3 inches (4 to 8 centimeters) across." But the vastness of these textures on Mars, as revealed in the latest images, took scientists by surprise. They called it “sea of polygons.”

NASA described the 360-degree panorama image, saying that the polygonal shapes were "spread in all directions for as far as the rover can see."

"They even wrap around the sides of a nearby butte nicknamed 'Miraflores,' which stands 20 feet (6 meters) tall and is topped with a thick cap of sand," NASA said.

“We’ve seen a lot of fascinating landscapes through Curiosity’s eyes, but this sea of polygons took our breath away,” said the mission’s project scientist, Ashwin Vasavada of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

How were these polygons formed on Mars?

According to NASA, some of the polygons spotted by the mission in the past were formed as mud cracks. It, however, noted that a variety of processes can contribute to their honeycomb textures, including cycles of warm and cold temperatures or compression that squeezed water out of the sediment when the surface was buried.

On the new discovery, Vasavada said, “We measured their shapes and chemistry carefully and are hopeful there are clues in the data as to how these features formed."

These newly discovered polygons are among the many surprises Curiosity has trundled across since landing on Mars 14 years ago, on August 5, 2012, the US space agency said.

Besides sulfur crystals, shiny meteorites, and other interesting geologic features, the rover has made major discoveries about the ancient Martian environment — most importantly, that it had the water, chemistry, and nutrients to support microbial life.