NASA's Curiosity Rover Sends Photos Of Rocks On Mars That Hint At Ancient Rivers

Last Updated:June 25, 2025, 23:50 IST

Images reveal 'boxwork' patterns suggesting Mars once had a flowing underground water system.

The crisscross pattern shows where water once moved through Mars’ surface, making the rock harder, NASA said. (IMAGE: NASA)

NASA’s Curiosity rover has sent back detailed close-up images of Martian rock formations that the space agency’s scientists say offer some of the strongest evidence yet of ancient groundwater flow on the red planet.

The images, taken from the slopes of a mountain inside Mars’ Gale Crater, show a network of low ridges etched in a striking crisscross pattern. According to NASA, these ridges likely formed when mineral-rich groundwater moved through the bedrock, depositing material that eventually hardened into the structures now captured by Curiosity.

“The rover found dramatic evidence of that groundwater when it encountered crisscrossing low ridges, some just a few inches tall, arranged in what geologists call a boxwork pattern," NASA said in a blogpost on its site.

NASA first released the video and the images in a blog post on its website on Monday.

“The bedrock below these ridges likely formed when groundwater trickling through the rock left behind minerals… hardening and becoming cementlike," the agency said in a statement.

Scientists believe Mars once had rivers, lakes and perhaps even an ocean, but the planet gradually dried up as it lost its atmosphere.

Shankhyaneel Sarkar

Shankhyaneel Sarkar is a senior subeditor at News18. He covers international affairs, where he focuses on breaking news to in-depth analyses. He has over five years of experience during which he has covered sev...Read More

Shankhyaneel Sarkar is a senior subeditor at News18. He covers international affairs, where he focuses on breaking news to in-depth analyses. He has over five years of experience during which he has covered sev...

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News world NASA's Curiosity Rover Sends Photos Of Rocks On Mars That Hint At Ancient Rivers