{"id":22186,"date":"2026-09-17T01:03:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T01:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?p=22186"},"modified":"2026-09-17T01:03:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T01:03:10","slug":"curiositys-one-centimeter-footprints-on-mount-sharp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?p=22186","title":{"rendered":"Curiosity\u2019s One-Centimeter Footprints on Mount Sharp"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"NASA
Fourteen years after touching down in Gale Crater, Curiosity is still finding surface details that stop its science team mid-plan. In mid-August 2026, during sols 4988 through 4994, the rover paused among layered rocks on the lower slopes of Mount Sharp and photographed a scatter of broad, shallow pits cut into bedrock. One of them, captured by the Mars Hand Lens Imager on the end of the robotic arm on sol 4989, measures about a centimeter across and, from certain angles, looks uncomfortably like a small footprint.<\/p>\n


\"NASA
Michelle Minitti, the deputy lead investigator on that up-close camera, stated that both work sites that week encountered features that were unlike anything the mission had observed before. You know, ordinary pits appear all across Mars. Weathered rock and other debris simply disintegrates, leaving a gap and a smattering of residual pebbles. These new depressions were much larger and flatter than the ones we\u2019d seen before, and there was no indication of what had caused them to disappear. There is no calling card from the mystery burrower.<\/p>\n

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    \nCuriosity basically brought out the big guns to solve the mystery. MAHLI and Mastcam captured images, stereo mosaics, and tight, overlapping frames, allowing the crew to create a very detailed image of each pit\u2019s walls and floor, while ChemCam fired its laser and took remote shots. The chemistry was verified using an Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer. We\u2019re already seeing some fascinating effects, with distinct layers of material inside the pit that don\u2019t quite match the surrounding rock. That is our first real hint.<\/p>\n