Curiosity’s Nighttime Light Reveals Hidden Martian Layers

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 Pasadena: NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has returned a rare and revealing nighttime image from the Red Planet after scientists illuminated a freshly drilled hole at a site nicknamed “Nevado Sajama” to inspect its internal geology. The experiment took place on Dec. 6, 2025, during Sol 4,740 of the rover’s extended mission in Gale Crater.

 Curiosity’s Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), equipped with built-in LED lights at the end of the rover’s robotic arm, was used to brighten the interior of the Nevado Sajama drill hole, allowing scientists to capture a nighttime view with the rover’s Mast Camera (Mastcam). This artificial lighting helped reveal features normally hidden in darkness, offering a new perspective on the rock’s structure.

 This lighting experiment became possible because the walls of the Nevado Sajama drill hole were unusually smooth, a departure from the rough and dusty holes the team has encountered more recently. Earlier in the mission, similar LED-lit nighttime imaging helped researchers study layering inside drill holes, but subsequent changes in drilling methods left many holes unsuitable for such observations. The unexpected clarity at Nevado Sajama provided a unique opportunity to revisit this technique.

 The Nevado Sajama drill site lies within a region marked by boxwork formations complex geological patterns that stretch across the terrain and appear, from orbit, like spiderweb-like networks. These formations are of scientific interest because they may record past environmental conditions and fluid activity on Mars. Illuminating the drill hole at night could help scientists better understand how these ancient rocks formed and evolved over time.

 Images like this underscore the longevity and versatility of the Curiosity mission, which has been exploring Mars since its landing in 2012 and continues to innovate with new methods for studying the planet’s surface and subsurface geology.