Mount Sharp

This last story is just fascinating.

The New Indian Express reports that NASA's Curiosity rover has discovered these highly unusual, broad, shallow pits on Mars, specifically in Valley Grande on Mount Sharp inside Gale Crater.

And Dr. Michelle Minetti's findings on this are wild.

She confirmed these are absolutely not impact craters.

That sounds good, but it doesn't make sense.

Because meanwhile, Curiosity just keeps very focused, climbing Mount Sharp, doing its work, doing drills, doing everything it's supposed to.

And there's no reason why Perseverance can't be doing more drill samples unless there's a reason.

And I wish I knew.

Malcolm's in Coffs Harbour.

And Malcolm says, I've been following Curiosity's journey up Mount Sharp on Mars.

I don't think he means literally, but anyway.

What are scientists hoping to learn by sending the rover higher and higher up that mountain? Is it a bit like travelling through different chapters of Mars history? Thanks.

That's a good question, Malcolm.

Curiosity is one of the robots we sent there many, many years ago.

Look, what are we hoping to learn? Mount Sharp is made of layers of ancient Martian rock.

And the higher layers, the layers up top here show different periods in Mars history.

The Curiosity rover landed in a place that looks almost like a geological library.

At the center rises Mount Sharp, a mountain built from stacked layers of sediment.

Those layers record changes in the crater across deep time.

Near the base, Curiosity found mudstone that formed when fine particles settled in calm water.