Science
NASA's Curiosity rover found a strange “ball” on the surface of Mars on its way to Mount Sharpe, where it is going to take the first samples.
Photographs taken by the Mastcam rover's camera on Martian day 746 captured a spherical object on a flat rock on the surface of the Red Planet.
Photo of Mars from the Curiosity rover
However, NASA experts say that the so-called ball is nothing special.
It is about 1 cm wide and is an example of a geological process called nodule.
This happens when minerals separate from water and turn into a solid mass. These balls probably formed at a time when Mars had a lot of water.
One example of nodules is hematite nodules, also called “blueberries,” that were spotted by the Opportunity rover in 2004.
Read also: Curiosity rover could carry life from Earth to Mars
This also suggests that Curiosity is now on an ancient lake bed.
The latest news from the Curiosity rover
During its last trip, the rover also took a photo of a “traffic light” protruding from the ground, but NASA has not yet commented on the find.
Something in the shape of a traffic light was spotted by journalist Joe Smith from Bristol in the UK. It is still difficult to say what the size of this stone is, but most likely it is about 30 cm.
The Curiosity rover began collecting the first rock samples on Mount Sharpe, 5.6 km high, drilling a 6.7 cm hole in the ground.
Drilling took place at the bottom of the mountain's foot layer, and then he explores the higher earlier layers.
This will help paint a picture of the environment at the time when the mountain was forming.