Mars is still a planet in full expansion for scientists, despite thousands and thousands of findings. The NASA explore the surface of the red planet using not only rovers like Curiosity and Perseverance, but also the MRO, or Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
The most recent discovery is that of a rock formation that many give the shape of a bear. Yes, if you see it from the front, it looks like the face of this animal.
Is that you Yogi? Well, it has something of the mischievous anthropomorphic and talkative bear created by Hanna-Barbera.
The image was captured by the MRO, whose camera HiRise is held by the University of Arizona. High-resolution images can be captured with this device.
As explained by the University of Arizona, the image was taken in December 2022, broadcasting in the penultimate week of January 2023.
The bear-faced rock formation is about 2 thousand meters wide.
The HiRise team explains in more detail: “(It is) a hill with a V-shaped collapse structure (the nose), two craters (the eyes) and a circular fracture pattern (the head).”
“The circular fracture pattern could be due to deposit settlement on top of a buried impact crater,” the team notes. While the nose could be formed by a volcanic or mud vent, so the material deposited on the crater would be lava or mud.
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, or Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, left Earth on August 12, 2005, entering the orbit of the red planet on October 17, 2006.
Its first mission started in November 2006, and the end of the extended mission occurred in December 2020, thereby doubling the useful design service period.
However, it continues to operate under the orders from NASA, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the University of Arizona.
The ship became the fourth artificial satellite on Mars, With Mars Express, Mars Odyssey and Mars Global Surveyor.
