NASA Rover Finds 'Spiderweb' Patterns on Mars — A Clue That Water May Have Once Flowed There
Mars, becoming a home for humans, is a hypothesis is one we've been trying for decades. The biggest tools in this pursuit have been the different spacecraft examining the Red Planet. NASA's Curiosity rover has sent many insights regarding the planet over the years, according to Live Science. Its most recent one, though, might be the best of them all, because it brings scientists one step closer to this planet's mysterious extraterrestrial life. The rover has captured pictures of certain features on Mars that could have once been a habitat for some form of life. Currently, the pictures and Curiosity's on-site examination report are all that astronomers have, but evidence of features like these is invaluable, as they elevate the Red Planet's potential to host life in the eyes of experts as well as authorities.
Boxwork on Mars
NASA recently released pictures of web-like features that the Curiosity Rover captured from Mount Sharp at the heart of Gale Crater. The rover set out for the slopes of the mountain in 2024 and arrived in June 2025. Since knowing about these features called 'Boxwork,' astronomers have been focused on them, especially on the mountain. Experts claim that these web-like markings are created from the criss-crossing ridges of mineral-rich rocks. These features appear haphazardly in many areas of Mars. On Mount Sharp, the markings appear nowhere but on the specific slopes from where the Curiosity Rover has captured them.
Researchers have no idea why these markings appear on specific locations but not others. The images captured by the Curiosity Rover are valuable, as these features have never been analyzed so closely by astronomers. Experts in the past, after analyzing insights from other 'Boxworks,' had claimed that these features were possibly formed by ancient groundwater. Hence, a closer look at these features could reveal more about the water that existed at one point on Mars, and could have also harbored aliens. The team is also optimistic that the findings will give them insights about the possible giant subsurface ocean that has been speculated to exist on the Red Planet. Similar markings have been spotted in caves on Earth and were supposedly made by mineral deposition from water. Researchers think something like this also happened on Mars, but on a larger scale.
Formation of the Boxwork
Experts believe that the bedrock below the crisscrossing ridges formed due to the accumulation of minerals left behind by groundwater. The minerals entered cracks and fissures on the surface of Mars, and over the years hardened to become like cement. Later, Martian wind eroded the rock but not the minerals it was composed of, which existed in the form of ridges, creating features like the Boxwork. The hypothesis was supported by the analysis done by the rover of extracted rocks around the ridges. The rocks revealed the presence of calcium sulfate veins, a salty mineral known to left behind by groundwater.
Abigail Fraeman, Curiosity’s deputy project scientist based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, was surprised by the finding because nowhere else was this mineral spotted on the mountain, according to CBS News. The experts remain unsure about how the ridges transformed into large crisscross patterns. "A big mystery is why the ridges were hardened into these big patterns and why only here," Curiosity's project scientist, Ashwin Vasavada, said. "As we drive on, we'll be studying the ridges and mineral cements to make sure our idea of how they formed is on target."Before the Rover's images, these features had only been observed from orbit.
Extraterrestrial Potential
Researchers believe that the 'boxwork' could indeed have served as a habitat for life forms in the past, according to Live Science. Experts think that the ridges contain minerals that once crystallized underground, in a warmer than present climate, with a supply of salty liquid. Kirsten Siebach, a Curiosity mission scientist at Rice University in Houston who has been studying the area, claims that early Earth microbes supposedly survived in similar scenarios, so the place could have hosted life in the past. NASA scientists are excited to explore the place further, to gain more knowledge about its potential.