During a sol-planning day on Mars, the Curiosity science team made an intriguing discovery as they encountered ‘Pinnacle Ridge’, a part of the upper Gediz Vallis Ridge. In our workspace, we noticed two distinct types of rocks: light-toned layered rocks and darker toned rocks. The presence of such different rocks excites geologists as it suggests they may have been formed in different environments and could have different compositions.
The mystery of how these two types of rocks ended up next to each other intrigues our team of scientists, and we are eager to use our full suite of instruments to unravel it. Unfortunately, we encountered a setback as one of Curiosity’s wheels was not on firm ground, preventing us from safely operating the arm. Despite this obstacle, we were so enthralled by the rocks that we decided to move the rover backwards by 15 cm to readjust the wheels in the hopes of being able to perform full contact science on Wednesday. This discovery presents an exciting challenge for our team as we continue to explore the fascinating terrain of Mars.
