Free Astronomy Magazine November-December 2016

I n this video recorded on Sep- tember 2014, Katie Stack (JPL) recalls the arrival of Curiosity at the foot of Mount Sharp and the alternative route that was then chosen to reach the Mur- ray Buttes region via the Pah- rump Hills. [JPL/NASA] luft Plateau, Cu- riosity examined the ‘Stimson for- mation’, a layered rock structure. [NASA/JPL-Cal- tech/MSSS] about a month in the hills of Murray Buttes) and NASA geologists, after studying the many images taken by the rover's Mast Camera, were able to get an idea of how those structures could have formed. Originally they were large dunes formed by sand transported and de- posited over time by the Martian wind close to Mount Sharp’s slopes. After being compacted under the pressure of their own weight, the dunes were transformed into sandstone by chemical processes and the action of the water circulating in the porosity of the minerals present in them. Subsequently to being buried under less