Recently, researchers have been spotting a few round formations on the surface of Mars, which is giving it a chocolate-chip cookie-like appearance. The zoomed images are now being studied and concluded. The NASA researchers have taken the help of Curiosity rover to snap a few images and also to gather some valuable data. The images were captured on December 5, 2019, and the Planetary Geologist Susanne Schwenzer is now studying the nodule-like rock structure. These little round items were the latest rover mission update. The smooth shapes are assumed to be due to diagenesis or water-rock interactions.
Diagenesis is just a simple alteration process that takes place after the sediment is deposited. The rover is already investigating the clay-rich area that was found on Mars. The data obtained there is helping scientists unravel certain facts on the history of water on Mars. The ChemCam Remote Micro-Imager is the one that is snapping the close-up imagery. The soil & rock composition and weathering processes are all being scrutinized. Curiosity has been offering so much data about Mars that the researchers are able to study the diverse range of the rocks there. The pebbly regions, bedrock, bright float rock, and more are all being investigated. NASA had spotted smooth pebbles on Mars back in 2017 that looked like a cannonball. Around Mars, it is only Curiosity that is hovering to gather data. NASA is thus waiting to have its Mars 2020 rover be scheduled by early 2021.
Likewise, NASA has decided to send all the necessities in terms of equipment and personal needs along with the crew to Mars, but they have never thought about Mars as a resource in itself. The researchers are now looking for a location with accessible water to help determine the landing site. The journal Geophysical Research Letters was seen to have pointed out water ice present inches beneath the dusty surface. NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Mars Odyssey Orbiter data have also signified the presence of water ice beneath the surface. NASA’s Phoenix Lander scraped a sample of the polar ice to confirm that it was water ice in 2008.
