Curiosity Sends the Photographs of Sand Waves on Mars

NASA published a selection of new photographs that were recently taken by Curiosity, which has been studying the surface of the Red Planet for several years now, Motherboard writes.

According to Emily Lakdawalla of Planetary Society, scientists will have the opportunity to study the sand dunes captured in the photographs in detail for the first time. Among the first conclusions that they made — in the part of the planet where the photographs were taken the winds blow differently from other regions of the planet that were captured earlier — as evidenced by the linear form of sand formations.

“What [the scientists controlling Curiosity] will do here is reach out and scoop up some sand, in order to study its composition. The sand in the recent pictures is a different color than previously photographed rocks, since it’s made up of darker minerals,” Lakdawalla said.

Curiosity rover landed on Mars in August 2012. Since then, it has been collecting various pieces of information about the climate and geology of the Red Planet and helps scientists find out if the conditions suitable for life have ever existed on Mars.