NASA Rover Exploring Strange, Haunting Structures on Mars

"Seeing boxwork this far up the mountain suggests the groundwater table had to be pretty high, and that means the water needed for sustaining life could have lasted much longer than we thought looking from orbit."

"It almost feels like a highway we can drive on, but then we have to go down into the hollows, where you need to be mindful of Curiosity's wheels slipping or having trouble turning in the sand."

"Scientists theorize that the boxwork formations were left behind by lakes and rivers that dried up billions of years ago, making it a tantalizing place to look for signs of ancient microbial life."

NASA's Curiosity rover has spent six months investigating boxwork formations on Mars—ridge structures up to six feet high located at Mount Sharp's foothills. Scientists believe these formations resulted from ancient lakes and rivers that evaporated billions of years ago, similar to Earth structures created when groundwater flows through rock fractures, deposits minerals, and leaves exposed mineral networks after erosion. The boxwork appears as a spiderweb-like pattern visible from space via the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The rover team navigates challenging terrain by carefully plotting paths across narrow ridges and sandy hollows. The high elevation of these formations suggests groundwater tables were significantly higher than previously thought, indicating water availability for sustaining life may have persisted much longer than orbital observations suggested.

Read at Futurism