NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover Spotted Stunning Layered Rock Formations

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover views remarkable layers of rock formations while the rover is reconnoitering the "Murray Buttes" region of lower Mount Sharp using its Mast Camera on September 8. The rover team would like to bring together the numerous large, color mosaics from the photos taken in the near future.

The scientific community is buzzing over new photos taken by the Curiosity Mars rover. https://t.co/2WiHSlDrEa pic.twitter.com/R80fgvvZfI

— abc13 Houston (@abc13houston) September 10, 2016

Curiosity Project Scientist Ashwin Vasavada from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California said that the Curiosity's science team has been just elated to go on this road trip through a bit of the American desert Southwest on Mars. He further said that examining these Martian buttes up close has given them a better understanding of ancient sand dunes that formed and were buried.

Great Martian landscapes from the #Curiosity #Mars rover, 4 years into its missionhttps://t.co/appgQaY83o pic.twitter.com/FudPDO4Ylq — James Sampson (@JamesLSampson) September 11, 2016

The headline should read "Holy Crap the Curiosity Mars Rover is Still Operating!" https://t.co/OvkVPUM9gc

— Gary Watson (@GaryMWatson) September 11, 2016

These buttes were chemically changed by groundwater, exhumed and eroded to shape the landscape that people see today. According to NASA, these Martian buttes and mesas are the corroded remnants of ancient sandstone. They were basically shaped when the winds deposited sands after lower Mount Sharp had fashioned.

Curiosity is a robotic rover that aims to explore the Gale Crater on Mars. It landed on Mars on August 6, 2012, and has been there for about 1,497 days. Its mission is to examine the Martian climate and geology and assess whether the inside of Gale Crater has environmental conditions beneficial for microbial life. Its exploration includes the examination of the water it contains and the probability of habitability.

Currently, Curiosity rover has departed toward the south leaving the buttes. It started its latest drilling campaign on September 9, 2016. Once it was completed, Curiosity will drive further in the south and Mount Sharp.