{"id":63708,"date":"2026-08-05T14:10:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T14:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/?guid=20faaa1a98203e3e3565966ead15d18e"},"modified":"2026-08-05T14:10:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T14:10:19","slug":"curiosity-rover-spots-mysterious-honeycombs-on-mars-space-photo-of-the-day-for-aug-5-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/2026\/08\/05\/curiosity-rover-spots-mysterious-honeycombs-on-mars-space-photo-of-the-day-for-aug-5-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Curiosity rover spots mysterious honeycombs on Mars | Space photo of the day for Aug. 5, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n
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\"a<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div>

A close-up of the polygon fractures discovered by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover highlights their honeycomb-like textures. <\/span>(Image credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/MSSS)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover<\/u><\/a> spotted surprising shapes in the Red Planet soil while exploring a large valley.<\/p>

What is it?<\/h2>

These images were captured on June 19 and 20, 2026, or the 4,930th and 4,931st Martian days of Curiosity's mission. They show honeycomb-like patterns referred to as \"polygonal fractures\" found in a valley on Mars<\/u><\/a> known as Valle Grande. They measure about 1.5 to 3 inches (4 to 8 centimeters) across. <\/p>

While Curiosity has seen other curious geometric patterns on Mars before, scientists were surprised by this most recent find. <\/p>

\"We've seen a lot of fascinating landscapes through Curiosity's eyes, but this sea of polygons took our breath away,\" project scientist Ashwin Vasavada of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said in a statement<\/u><\/a>. \"We measured their shapes and chemistry carefully and are hopeful there are clues in the data as to how these features formed.\"<\/p>

\"a<\/p><\/div><\/div>

A panorama taken by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover showing a large field of hexagonal shapes in the Martian soil. <\/span>(Image credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/MSSS)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>

Why is it incredible?<\/h2>

This field of polygons in Valle Grande extends as far as Curiosity's instruments could see, even around the base of a steep hill scientists named \"Miraflores.\"<\/p>

\"a<\/p><\/div><\/div>

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover captured this sand-capped butte, nicknamed \"Miraflores,\" estimated to be about 20 feet (6 meters) tall, on June 11, 2026. <\/span>(Image credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/MSSS)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>

While mission scientists have theories about how these structures form, it ultimately remains a mystery how they formed. <\/p>

It's thought that changes in temperatures on Mars could have caused water to squeeze through sediment layers, but scientists will need to collect more data before they can reach a conclusive answer.<\/p>\n <\/article>\n \n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover spotted surprising honeycomb-like shapes in the Red Planet soil while exploring a large valley.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":634,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[404,437,477],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-astronomy","category-mars","category-solar-system"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63708"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/634"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63708"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63708\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63976,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63708\/revisions\/63976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}