The buttes and mesas were formed from eroded remnants of ancient sandstone, which originated when winds deposited sand after Martian mountain lower Mount Sharp was formed. In a news release, NASA explains that the Martian buttes are all that remains of ancient sandstone formations created by heavy winds depositing sand around the mountain.
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These images reveal in stunning detail the hills, plateaus and rock faces of the Red Planet.
Mount Sharp, officially called Aeolis Mons, is Curiosity’s long-term prime destination. The team behind the mission plans to stitch together images taken by Curiosity at this location to form several large color mosaics.
Curiosity scientist, Dr. Ashwin Vasavada, who works at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology, said he and his team were “thrilled” to undertake the expedition, which they describe as ‘a bit of American desert Southwest on Mars’. As of this week, Curiosity has exited these buttes toward the south, driving up to the base of the final butte on its way out. Once the drilling is completed, Curiosity will continue to traverse higher up Mount Sharp, where it would leave behind the spectacular rock formations.
It has already discovered evidence that ancient lakes on the Red Planet offered conditions that would have been favourable for microbes if Mars has ever hosted life.
Curiosity landed near Mount Sharp in 2012.
Its mission is to study when and how Mars became uninhabitable.
The rock layers, which formed at the base of the mountain, accumulated as sediment within these ancient lakes billions of years ago.
Eroded mesas and buttes reminiscent of the U.S. Southwest shape part of the horizon in the latest 360-degree color panorama from NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover.
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NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover is a car-sized robotic vehicle that is exploring the Gale Crater on Mars. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington.
