NASA's Curiosity spots honeycomb-shaped polygons at Mars's Antofagasta crater
NASA's Curiosity rover just spotted some wild, honeycomb-shaped rock patterns near the crater named Antofagasta.
Project scientist Abigail Fraeman called them "honeycomb-shaped polygons," and they kind of look like giant reptile scales scattered across the landscape: definitely something Curiosity hasn't seen in this abundance before.
Mars polygons could reveal ancient climate
On Earth, shapes like these usually form when things dry out or freeze, but finding them on Mars is pretty rare.
Scientists are comparing these new formations to similar hexagons found at another site called Pontours, though the Antofagasta ones have more extensive patterns and raised ridges.
By studying them, researchers hope to learn more about Mars's ancient climate and its watery past, which was a lot different from the dry planet we see today.