Curiosity Just Lit Up Mars At Night And Revealed A Never-Before-Seen Side Of The Red Planet
The Daily Galaxy • • science
Key Points:
- NASA’s Curiosity rover captured a rare nighttime image of the Martian surface at the Nevado Sajama drill site using onboard LED lights, providing a novel way to study Mars after dark.
- The image, taken on December 6, 2025 (Sol 4,740), used LEDs from the Mars Hand Lens Imager to illuminate the drill hole, revealing fine surface details and rock layering not visible during daylight imaging.
- Nevado Sajama, drilled on November 13, 2025, is located in a region with boxwork geological formations, and the smooth walls of the drill hole offered a unique opportunity to study subsurface layering under controlled lighting.
- The experiment demonstrated how artificial lighting can improve the assessment of
