NASA’s Curiosity rover, which has been exploring Mars since 2012, has once again surprised the scientific world. In new images from the surface of the Red Planet, it found amazing polygonal cracks that resemble giant honeycombs, or waffle-like patterns. These structures may reveal the secrets of Mars’ climate millions of years ago.
Mysterious cracks
The unusual shapes were spotted by the rover in early May 2025. According to planetary geologist Catherine O’Connell-Cooper of the University of New Brunswick, the cracks, with raised ridges about 1 centimeter high, form large-scale lobes that span 30 meters in length.
“These structures look like frozen traces of ancient activity – possibly the result of cyclical freezing and thawing of water or tectonic changes,” O’Connell-Cooper explained on the mission’s blog.
Similar patterns have been observed before, but the current discoveries are characterized by detail and scope.
To analyze the cracks, the team used APXS and a ChemCam to study the chemical composition of the ridges. A particular attraction is a section called Orosco Ridge, where polygonal fractures border a series of box fractures. The MAHLI camera also captured a mosaic of a section of Valley of the Moon to understand how fractures interact with layers of Martian rock.
“There are so many objects to explore here that we could work for weeks,” O’Connell-Cooper added.
Part of the puzzle of Mars history
These cracks are just a piece of the puzzle that Curiosity is putting together. The rover is constantly collecting data on Mars’ atmosphere, measuring argon levels, traces of water, ultraviolet radiation, and even “dust devils” – the swirls that Perseverance recently managed to capture in Jezero Crater.
All of this information helps reconstruct what the Red Planet’s climate was like billions of years ago, and whether it could have supported life. For example, polygonal structures on Earth are often associated with seasonal changes in humidity, emphasizing the possibility that water existed on ancient Mars.
Earlier we reported on how a NASA spacecraft “spied” on the Curiosity rover.
According to NASA
