Curiosity's Curious Images

Mars—the Red Planet, though in the past it was blue and white (blue from seas, and white from snow and clouds)—is currently dominating the headlines; it is the source of the most striking discoveries. I am truly loving the photos from Curiosity, especially since the rover is in an area with rocks of such diverse shapes—some look like birds, while others have very varied, "organic" forms. Right now, Mars is a wilderness of rocks and dunes—a rocky, dune-filled desert—but there are rock formations that are simply breathtaking; the wind has carved wonders there.

Beyond the honeycomb-like pattern of polygons currently being discovered—a term used by NASA—it is worth remembering that *Curiosity* is taking a real beating to capture and transmit all these photos and data; the images above show the condition of *Curiosity's* wheels as of July 23rd.

Every so often, the technical team conducts an inspection by having Curiosity take photos of itself to check its physical condition. Obviously, if Curiosity takes a hit, it doesn't feel pain like we do; it has to signal any damage or malfunctions in some way, and the technicians do this by having it photograph itself. That is why it periodically takes these kinds of photos. While they might remind you of similar images from the past, the situation has worsened; this latest inspection from late July shows that the condition has deteriorated.

This process began back in 2013, and a lot depends on the terrain Curiosity traverses. It has covered a distance of 37.4 kilometers—which isn't huge—yet look at the wear and tear it has sustained. If a problem were to arise, a wheel could break or be torn off, forcing the rover to continue on the remaining ones; there is a specific scenario where a wheel could get wedged between rocks, a sudden jolt could occur, and the wheel would be lost, leaving the rover to move forward on the stump of its amputated wheel.

This is the landscape Curiosity is currently traversing; this was published very recently. Everything you see on the ground is a field of honeycomb-like structures. They are honeycomb-shaped—very similar to what NASA reported (releasing a statement, photos, and so on) regarding the "dragon scales" back in April 2026—but this is not the same area. These are slightly different, and the scale is certainly massive; it stretches all the way into the distance.

I don't know if you can see a small rock formation over there—aside from the main hill, there’s a small, protruding hillock. That is specifically the one known as Miraflores Hill; it is covered in—and indeed formed by—structures resembling dragon scales, but on a truly colossal scale. One of the most intriguing aspects is that the hill itself—its slopes, the rising sections—is composed of these very structures.

The structures were formed not horizontally, but rather on an oblique plane—specifically, on the slope of that small hill. It is more of a mound than a hill, standing approximately six meters high.

Han nombrado a toda esta zona en honor a paisajes y lugares de Antofagasta, de Chile, la colina mostrada es uno de los objetivos del Curiosity y volviendo a recordar cómo se inició esto, en su marcha el Robert en abril del 2026 encontró una zona de polígonos a la que se calificó como escamas de dragón. Era un cráter que había, no era un cráter muy grande, creo que era de 20 metros de diámetro, no era especialmente grande, pero había perforado el pequeño asteroide, había perforado el terreno y había levantado esos bloques con esa estructura de escamas.

Poco después, el 25 de abril del 2026, el Curiosity le pasó una cosa muy muy Curiosity, ¿os ha pasado alguna vez que pisáis algo en el suelo y os queda en el zapato atascado durante mucho tiempo? Pues es lo que le pasó, esto fue a perforar una roca, no exactamente una escala de dragón, pero sí una también creada así con este tipo de estructuras similares, parecidas, pero no exactamente iguales. Este es otro tipo de roca y se le quedó atascado en la en el taladro.

Thank you for visiting my blog. If you like posts about #science, #planet, #politics, #rights #crypto, #traveling and discovering secrets and beauties of the #universe, feel free to Follow me as these are the topics I write about the most. Have a wonderful day and stay on this great platform :) :)

! The truth will set us free and science is the one that is closest to the truth!

---