On July 24, 2025, with 4,608 Mars Days, or Sols, into the mission, NASA’s Curiosity rover captured a stunning image of a wind-shaped rock resembling coral formations in Gale Crater on Mars.
This image of Papsolok was captured on July 24, 2025, by Curiosity’s Mahli instrument. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS.
One of the rocks shaped by the wind was photographed by Curiosity’s Mars Hand Lens Imager (Mahli), which is located on the end of the rover’s robotic arm.
“At the time this image was taken, it was known as Paposo, and the rock was roughly 5 cm (2 inches) from the Mahli,” a member of the Curiosity team stated.
On the same day, Curiosity observed another coral-like rock through a remote microimager, which is part of the ChemCam instrument.
This image of the wind-shaped rock was captured by Curiosity’s remote microimager on July 24, 2025. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS.
“Curiosity has identified many small features like these, which originated billions of years ago when liquid water existed on Mars,” the researchers noted.
“Minerals dissolved in water permeated the rock’s cracks, eventually drying and leaving behind hardened minerals.”
“Over years of wind erosion, surrounding rocks have been worn down, resulting in these distinctive shapes.”
“This natural process is commonly observed on Earth and also results in fascinating rock forms on Mars, including those that resemble flowers.”
Curiosity Rover took this selfie on October 11, 2019, at Glen Etive, where it drilled twice. Just to the left of the rover are two drill holes labeled Glen Etive 1 (right) and Glen Etive 2 (left). Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS.
Launched on November 26, 2011, Curiosity is the fourth rover the United States has dispatched to Mars.
The mission, overseen by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, involves nearly 500 scientists from the US and around the world.
Curiosity is exploring a 154 km (96 miles) wide crater and collecting rock, soil, and air samples for analysis.
The car-sized rover, comparable in height to a basketball player, utilizes its 2.1 m (7 feet) long arms to place tools near selected rocks for research.
Source: www.sci.news
