NASA's Curiosity spacecraft has been exploring the surface of the Red Planet since 2012, providing scientists with a lot of valuable information. The device has been collecting data about Gale Crater for years.
That's exactly it Thanks to new findings related to this crater, scientists have confirmed that Mars may have had an environment similar to that found on Earth.. What did Curiosity sniff out in Gale?
A huge crater named Gale (after an Australian amateur astronomer) They were created when a meteorite hit Mars. This happened a very long time ago, about 3.5 to 3.8 billion years ago. Inside Gale Crater is Iulis Mons (Mount Sharp), which rises above its rim. Its stratigraphic structure suggests that it may have been located there Deposits related to the geological history of Mars. For this reason, this crater was chosen as the target for the landing of the Curiosity spacecraft on August 6, 2012.
NASA recently reported that the rover detected a storm crater on the surface Methane, which on Earth is associated, among other things, with the activity of microorganisms. In the latest research published in “Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets“A research team using the ChemCam instrument aboard the Curiosity spacecraft reported that it had been discovered Higher-than-normal amounts of manganese in rocks at Gale Crater on Mars, suggesting that the sediment formed in a river, delta or near the shore of an ancient lake. Why is finding these deposits so important?