Don’t peek at the answer until you’ve given this a good try! Then, scroll down a bit and the truth will be revealed to you.

Credit: NASA/CGRO/EGRET/ Dirk Petr

What in the world is it?

Rumpled elephant skin? Two peas on pie crust? Well, this image, taken by the Martian rover Opportunity’s microscopic imager, shows a portion of the rock outcrop in an area on Mars called Meridiani Planum. What’s so big about that?

“Liquid water once flowed through these rocks,” said Dr. Steve Squyres of Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, principal investigator for the science instruments on Opportunity and its twin, Spirit. “It changed their texture, and it changed their chemistry.”

NASA’s latest mission to Mars was specifically designed to look for such clues to watery past. The question being, could Mars once have been hospitable to life. Today we have strong evidence for an exciting answer: Yes!

Although the images obtained to date are not adequate for a definitive answer. So scientists plan to maneuver Opportunity closer to the features for a better look.