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In a fascinating development, NASA’s “Curiosity” rover has recently captured intriguing images of rock formations on Mars that bear a striking resemblance to spiderwebs. These peculiar geological structures, known as boxwork, have sparked curiosity and imagination, but rest assured, there are no alien spiders involved.
From a bird’s-eye view, these formations appear as a network of low ridges interspersed with sandy hollows, weaving across the Martian terrain. Their appearance has led some to nickname them spiderwebs. The discovery of these features is exciting for scientists, as they hint at the possibility that water may have flowed on Mars more recently than previously believed. This opens up new avenues of inquiry regarding the potential for life on the red planet and how long it might have persisted.
Tina Seeger, a mission scientist from Rice University who is spearheading the investigation into these boxwork formations, shared insights on “Jesse Weber Live.” She explained the scale and allure of the landscape: “These ridges span roughly the width of two parking spaces and rise about 3 to 6 feet above the sandy troughs. It’s quite a landscape, one that would make for an exhilarating BMX ride,” Seeger remarked to NewsNation.
Tina Seeger of Rice University, one of the mission scientists leading the boxwork investigation, joined “Jesse Weber Live” on Thursday to discuss the revelation.
“These ridges are maybe two parking spaces wide, and they stand 3 to 6 feet tall above the sandy hollows between them. So would be a pretty fun landscape to ride your BMX bike across,” Seeger told NewsNation.
She added that the area explored by the rover was initially believed to be dry, but researchers now believe the web features “formed because the rock was buried over time and fractured because of all that pressure covering it, and then groundwater flowed through those cracks, and that groundwater was rich in different minerals that could crystallize in those cracks and the surrounding rock.”
Seeger believes it is unclear exactly what this may lead to, but “following the water” will help their research.
“We all need water. All sorts of microbes need water. So our investigation on Mars has been about looking for signs that there was water and signs that it was a neutral pH, a good temperature, where microbes could have lived.
“So, now that we see this evidence for later-stage groundwater where we could have maybe had microbes living in the subsurface, if they were there, we can keep looking for fossil evidence.”