The often-used saying "looks can be deceptive" seems to be the perfect way to describe Mars, also known as the Red Planet. NASA's Curiosity Rover has spotted purple rocks on the planet's mountainous landscape.
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A patch of purple rocks was found in Mars' Mount Sharp, which is officially known as Aeolis Mons, and is located in the Gale Crater of the planet. The images taken show a layer of purple-hued rocks, which might be the the possible future destination of the Mars mission.
The images that were taken by the Mars Curiosity Rover on November 10, which marks its 1,516th day on the planet, points at the diverse composition of the Martian surface. The Chemical and Mineralogy (CheMin) instrument of the Curiosity rover also detected the presence of hematite, which is the main ore of iron.
Hematite originates when hot water flows through rocks, leading to the separation of the mineral from the rocks and its deposition.
In the photos taken, the basal section of Mount Sharp, which is known as the Murray formation, can be seen comprising orange rocks, which stretches to a ridge-forming layer called the Hematite Unit, a NASA statement said.
The higher levels of Mount Sharp are found to comprise the most distant slopes, across which the Curiosity rover is set to go and collect more information about the Red Planet.
After the Hematite Unit is the Clay Unit, which is comparatively flat. The researchers have named the next round of hills as the Sulfate Unit and researchers will accumulate more data intensely with the help of the rover from this region.
The previous discovery made on Mars revealed the presence of a unique landscape comprising dry ice, which is not found on Earth naturally. This kind of region was never detected on Mars' South Pole before.
