.webp%3Ftrim%3D197%2C0%2C198%2C0%26width%3D1200%26height%3D800%26crop%3D1200%3A800&w=3840&q=100)
Nasa rover spots strange Martian rock that looks like ‘chocolate cake'
The rover team faced a technical challenge to find a safe area on the Red Planet to deploy the space vehicle's APXS spectrometer and MAHLI camera instruments.
They eventually managed to place the APXS equipment on top of a prominent rock to study its target Martian area, including layered rocks named 'Hale Telescope' after the famous astronomical landmark in San Diego, California.
The rover imaged and conducted analyses of another target a little further from the Hale Telescope area called 'Fan Palm'.
In all, the Curiosity rover completed a drive of some 23 meters in preparation for the study plan lasting three Martian days.
Curiosity now has its instruments as well as the APXS spectrometer set on the 'cakey target', planetary scientist Scott Van Bommel from Washington University said in a Nasa blog post.
'Perhaps it was because of Easter last weekend, perhaps I needed an early lunch,' Dr VanBommel commented, 'whatever the cause, I could not shake the visual parallels between the rocks in our workspace as captured in this blog's image and a many-layered cake such as a Prinzregententorte.'
The weathering patterns on the rock formation make it look like a 'layered cake that little fingers have picked the icing off,' researchers say.
The spacecraft has undergone a new AI software upgrade, giving it greater autonomy to choose its next target, Nasa noted.
An upgraded version of the Curiosity's AEGIS instrument would enable the rover to autonomously determine the target and analyse it with its chemical analysis equipment.
The rover's encounter with the strange rock formation occurred just days after it was captured driving across the Red Planet for the first time from orbit.
An image taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter showed Curiosity as a dark speck at the front of a trail of rover tracks about 320m long.
Since its landing at the Martian Gale Crater in August 2012, Curiosity has uncovered many details about the Red Planet's ancient habitability, helping find if it ever had the conditions to support microbial life.
Its mobile science lab analyses rocks, soil and the Martian atmosphere, looking for chemical signatures of life.
It has made several landmark discoveries, including evidence of ancient riverbeds, organic molecules, and past habitable environments.
The rover has also helped determine the current Martian climate and radiation levels which could help future astronauts prepare for exploration.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scottish Sun
2 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Robot house-hunters to search cosy caves for humans to live in on MARS – after testing skills on Brit holiday island
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) SPACE bots are set to explore off-planet caves to set up new homes for humans. The robo-teams would work together to plunge into lava holes on Mars and the Moon - in search for new habitats for humans. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 5 The research team includes scientists from the robotics innovation centre at the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) Credit: SWNS 5 While on their discovery mission, the robo-explorers found a skylight - a hole leading to an underground cave Credit: SWNS 5 The robot that was lowered into the cave was able to explore the difficult-to-enter area, and successfully generated a 3D model of the cave Credit: SWNS Research was recently carried out by a team of European academics who outlined the next-level mission in the journal Science Robotics. Their report shows tests carried out on the volcanic, Brit holiday Island of Lanzarote - chosen due to its environmental similarities with the Moon and Mars. The research team includes scientists from the robotics innovation centre at the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) DFKI said: "Lava caves on planetary bodies near Earth are promising sites for future base camps, offering natural protection from radiation and meteorite impacts. "Yet their exploration remains difficult due to harsh conditions and restricted access." Three different robot types worked together on their own to rapidly explore and map out the extreme Lanzarote environment including vast lava fields and numerous craters. While on their discovery mission, the robo-explorers found a skylight - a hole leading to an underground cave. The AI-gadgets took part in a four-step mission to map together the area around the hole, drop a sensor into the cave to collect data, descend a planetary surface exploration device and have it explore the cave independently to create a 3D map. The robot that was lowered into the cave was able to explore the difficult-to-enter area, and successfully generated a 3D model of the cave. Pulling off the application of such technologies in alien landscapes is a key breakthrough in the world of science and technology. DFKI said: "The results not only confirm the technical feasibility of the concept but also demonstrate the potential of collaborative robotic systems for use in future Moon or Mars missions. "The study thus provides valuable impetus for the further development of autonomous robotic solutions in the context of planetary exploration." The major milestone comes after research from 2024 which suggested future humans living on Mars will undergo drastic physical changes and may even develop into a new sub-species, an expert has told The Sun. Kyle Zagrodzky, founder of OsteoStrong, a company that specialises in bone health, explained that an unforgiving Martian environment could push humans to evolve into haunting versions of their "Earthling cousins". At first, Mars-bound astronauts will feel pretty good, according to Zagrodzky, as the lower level of gravity eases the weight on their bones and joints. "New comers would have a massive physical advantage in the short run," he said, before grimly stating: "Until their bones and muscles are down regulated." Living in Martian gravity - about 38% of Earth's gravity - over extended periods is expected to have significant effects on the human body. 5 Pulling off the application of such technologies in alien landscapes is a key breakthrough in the world of science and technology Credit: SWNS 5 The major milestone comes after research from 2024 which suggested future humans living on Mars will undergo drastic physical changes and may even develop into a new sub-species. Credit: SWNS Optimistic estimates from a 2020 Stanford study found that astronauts on a three year mission to Mars and back would lose a third of their bone density. Around half of them could go on to develop osteoporosis. "For new adult visitors, spine elongation would probably the first noticeable change," Zagrodzky continued. "Other than a change in the distribution of fat, which might look more and more strange over time, we probably wouldn't see significant outward physical changes in adults going to visit Mars for short periods of time." The first crewed Mars mission has been proposed for the 2030s - with Elon Musk's SpaceX aiming to send humans to the Red Planet as early as 2029. But Musk hopes his crew will have built a self-sustaining colony by 2050. Mars has dust storms, high levels of radiation and less gravity than Earth. In order to live there, humans would have to completely change their ways of life although researchers claim streaming Netflix won't be an issue.
The Independent
3 hours ago
- The Independent
Nasa finds a whole new moon around Uranus
Nasa's Webb telescope has found a new moon around Uranus. The tiny object is only about 10 kilometres wide and is the 29th addition to the family of moons around the planet. Scientists think it was able to hide for so long not only because of its small size but also its relative faintness. That meant it could lay undiscovered during other observations, such as Voyager 2, which flew past the planet around 40 years ago. There could many other of the objects lying in wait around the planet, still undiscovered, researchers suggest. 'No other planet has as many small inner moons as Uranus, and their complex inter-relationships with the rings hint at a chaotic history that blurs the boundary between a ring system and a system of moons,' said Matthew Tiscareno of the SETI Institute, a member of the research team, in a statement. 'Moreover, the new moon is smaller and much fainter than the smallest of the previously known inner moons, making it likely that even more complexity remains to be discovered.' All of the moons around Uranus are named after characters from Shakespeare and Alexandra Pope. The new one is part of a system that orbits inside the largest moons Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon, for instance. But the new one is yet to receive a name. It will get one when it is approved by the International Astronomical Union, which chooses names and designations for objects in space.
Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Daily Mail
NASA reveals Uranus has a secret moon
More than one billion miles away from Earth, Uranus is one of the least explored planets in our solar system. So it comes as no surprise that scientists still regularly make new discoveries about the ice giant planet. This week, NASA has uncovered a secret moon hiding in Uranus' orbit. The moon – which is yet to be named – was discovered using the James Webb Space Telescope, and is believed to be around six miles wide. To put that into perspective, that's around 350 times smaller than our own moon! The discovery expands the total known number of moons orbiting Uranus to 29. 'No other planet has as many small inner moons as Uranus, and their complex inter–relationships with the rings hint at a chaotic history that blurs the boundary between a ring system and a system of moons,' said Matthew Tiscareno of the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, a member of the research team. 'Moreover, the new moon is smaller and much fainter than the smallest of the previously known inner moons, making it likely that even more complexity remains to be discovered.' NASA first spotted the new moon during an observation of Uranus on 2 February 2025. 'This object was spotted in a series of 10 40–minute long–exposure images captured by the Near–Infrared Camera (NIRCam),' explained Dr Maryame El Moutamid, a lead scientist in SwRI's Solar System Science and Exploration Division based in Boulder, Colorado. 'It's a small moon but a significant discovery, which is something that even NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft didn't see during its flyby nearly 40 years ago.' The moon is the 14th small moon found to orbit Uranus' larger moons – Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon (named after characters from Shakespeare and Alexander Pope). 'It's located about 35,000 miles (56,000 kilometers) from Uranus' center, orbiting the planet's equatorial plane between the orbits of Ophelia (which is just outside of Uranus' main ring system) and Bianca,' Dr El Moutamid added. 'Its nearly circular orbit suggests it may have formed near its current location.' The planets in our solar system have different numbers of moons – ranging from 0 to 274. Neither Mercury nor Venus have any moons, while you probably already know that Earth has just one. Mars has two moons named Phobos and Deimos, and Jupiter has 95 – including the biggest moon in our solar system, Ganymede.
