Free Astronomy Magazine March-April 2021

41 MARCH-APRIL 2021 MARS ROVERS P ossible extension of the lake identified by Curiosity in Gale Crater. Squeezed be- tween the crater rim and Mount Sharp, the lake would stretch into the circular valley, covering a small portion of it. The same thing may also have happened in other areas of the same crater or in other craters. [NASA/JPL Caltech/MSSS] Curiosity has confirmed that the clay sediments of Yel- lowknife Bay originated in ac- cordance with the second scenario and that the particles that then gave rise to the min- erals in question were trans- ported to the bottom of the lake by the waters of some streams before undergoing significant chemical actions by water. The slow evaporation of the lake and the not exces-