Topic: Planetary Science

NASA's Curiosity rover has been studying an area on Mars known as boxwork, which resembles a giant spiderweb when seen from orbit. This region may hold important evidence about the history of water on ancient Mars.

Mars' Spiderweb-Like Terrain

The boxwork formations appear as narrow ridges about 3 to 6 feet tall, separated by sandy depressions. Stretching across the terrain for miles, these crisscrossing ridges hint that groundwater once flowed through this region of Mars later than scientists previously believed.

"It almost feels like a highway we can drive on. But then we have to go down into the hollows, where you need to be mindful of Curiosity's wheels slipping or having trouble turning in the sand," said operations systems engineer Ashley Stroupe.

Implications

If groundwater flowed through this region later than previously believed, it raises new questions about how long microscopic life might have survived on the planet billions of years ago. The discovery also provides insights into the processes that formed the unusual terrain.