NASA's Curiosity rover on Mars has revealed a stunning alien terrain featuring a rugged landscape, as the robotic explorer begins its new extended mission.
Last September, Curiosity captured about 60 photos during the drilling part of its mission to obtain rock samples from a site known as Quela. Quela is located in the foothills of Mount Sharp. This incredible selfie was taken by Curiosity's Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument.
Data collected reveals that the lower parts of this formation suggest that a lake system used to flow here billions of years ago.
This lake system must have existed for more than ten million years according to mission scientists. Mission scientists also plan for Curiosity to explore the upper half of the formation next year.
According to project scientist Ashwin Vasavada of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, by further exploring this region, we will see the record of lakes continues beyond this area. Scientists say the presence of more distinct vertical thickness in the formation can indicate a longer lifespan for this lake system and probably habitable conditions as well. The Curiosity team is hoping to find more evidence how this ancient environment changed over time.
Mount Sharp is also located inside the Gale Crater where the rover landed in the 96-mile wide crater in August 2012 to search for evidence of life.
During its exploration, Curiosity quickly gathered evidence of a lake and stream system that used to flow during Mars' ancient past, after exploring the foothills of Mount Sharp for 14 months.
In the last two years, Curiosity has been investigating and analyzing these foothills, as the rover slowly traverses through Mount Sharp. Mission scientists say that the rover will continue exploring for at least two more years, as it began its extended mission last Saturday.