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NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover weighed the mountain it’s climbing

Rock under the rover’s wheels is more like soil than cement, a clue to how Mount Sharp formed

Curiosity rover

HIGH AND DRY  NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover took this selfie on January 15. The rover has been climbing a Martian mountain that was once in the middle of a lake, but new research suggests most of the mountaintop was built during drier times.

JPL-Caltech/NASA

By Lisa Grossman

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