The Mars explorer Curiosity rover has photographed what looks like a flower, a mineral formation on the red planet.
Although at first glance you might think it's a flower, it's actually a special mineral formation visible at in the image recently transmitted by the Curiosity rover to NASA. The image was captured on 25 February by a camera on the rover's robotic arm called MAHLI, which can observe things as small as dust grains or the texture of rocks.
(1/3) Your Friday moment of zen: A beautiful new microscopic image from @MarsCuriosity shows teeny, tiny delicate structures that formed by mineral precipitating from water.
(Penny approximately for scale added me)https://t.co/cs7t11BWAj pic.twitter.com/AU20LjY5pQ
- Abigail Fraeman (@abbyfrae) February 26, 2022
Similar formations have been found before, which scientists suspect are probably made of magnesium sulphate. The formation under study is about 1 cm in diameter.
Curiosity has been exploring Mars since 2012, and its main missions include studying the geology and climate of the red planet, searching for traces of water and ultimately discovering whether life existed on the red planet.
