Overview
- The Curiosity rover identified a field of unusually wide, very shallow depressions in two work areas on Mount Sharp, a discovery the mission team described as unlike features seen in the rover's 14 years on Mars.
- Mission scientists captured dense overlapping imagery and stereo mosaics with MAHLI and Mastcam and collected laser and contact chemistry with ChemCam and APXS to build 3‑D height models and compositional profiles.
- The depressions are broader and much flatter than typical Martian pits and one close‑up example measured about one centimeter across despite appearing large in some images.
- Early analyses from the instruments show gray, rough, resistant layers near the depressions that appear chemically distinct from surrounding bedrock, but the data do not yet identify a formation mechanism.
- The team will continue targeted imaging and chemical sampling to narrow hypotheses about how the features formed, a work that could reveal new details about sedimentary processes and environmental changes preserved in Mount Sharp.