--- title: Even On The Red Planet, Hexagons Are The Bestagons description: NASA's Curiosity rover has discovered a large field of hexagonal polygonal fractures in Valle Grande on Mars. The origin of these features is uncertain — they... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/even-on-the-red-planet-hexagons-are-the-bestagons-oucjw8eel twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Even On The Red Planet, Hexagons Are The Bestagons | daily.dev og:description: NASA's Curiosity rover has discovered a large field of hexagonal polygonal fractures in Valle Grande on Mars. The origin of these features is uncertain — they... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/even-on-the-red-planet-hexagons-are-the-bestagons-oucjw8eel og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/OUcjW8eeL.png og:image:alt: Even On The Red Planet, Hexagons Are The Bestagons og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Even On The Red Planet, Hexagons Are The Bestagons **[Hackaday](https://daily.dev/sources/hackaday)** · 2 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary NASA's Curiosity rover has discovered a large field of hexagonal polygonal fractures in Valle Grande on Mars. The origin of these features is uncertain — they could be dried mudflat remnants (suggesting ancient water) or the result of freeze-thaw cycles, and NASA is being cautious about drawing conclusions. The piece also touches on Curiosity's remarkable longevity, noting that wheel traction control was adjusted years ago and ongoing software updates keep it running, with a chance it may outlast Opportunity's 15-Earth-year endurance record. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What did NASA's Curiosity rover discover in Valle Grande on Mars? Curiosity discovered a large field of hexagonal polygonal fractures in Valle Grande on Mars. NASA has not confirmed how these features formed — possibilities include ancient dried mudflats (implying past liquid water) or freeze-thaw cycles similar to frost heave on Earth. The field stretches as far as the rover's camera can see, making it a significant find for understanding Mars's geologically recent past. _Planetary science findings like this land on daily.dev as they break, for developers who follow space tech._ ### How long has the Curiosity rover been operating and what has kept it running so long? Curiosity has been operating long enough to potentially surpass Opportunity's endurance record of 15 Earth-years. Its longevity is attributed to its plutonium-based power source and ongoing software updates. Wheel traction control algorithms were also adjusted to extend wheel life, a change made at least nine years before the time of this report. _Engineers tracking long-duration embedded systems and space hardware follow milestones like these on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Mars rovers give scientists a ground-level view of the red planet – peek inside their NASA control room](https://daily.dev/posts/mars-rovers-give-scientists-a-ground-level-view-of-the-red-planet-peek-inside-their-nasa-control-r-lfmpgc0yh) · Robohub · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [The Ingenious Fixes Keeping the Curiosity Rover Rolling](https://daily.dev/posts/the-ingenious-fixes-keeping-the-curiosity-rover-rolling-mayqszzuu) · IEEE Spectrum · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Saturn’s South Pole Is Apparently Decagon-Shaped](https://daily.dev/posts/saturn-s-south-pole-is-apparently-decagon-shaped-8tebnokct) · Hackaday · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [NASA’s new rover prototype drove 16 miles in a week, 10 times faster than anything it has on Mars](https://daily.dev/posts/nasa-s-new-rover-prototype-drove-16-miles-in-a-week-10-times-faster-than-anything-it-has-on-mars-mcsho6byg) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Old Rover Data Reveals Vast Water Amounts on Mars](https://daily.dev/posts/old-rover-data-reveals-vast-water-amounts-on-mars-pvbhs2r9v) · IEEE Spectrum · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#nasa](https://daily.dev/tags/nasa) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/even-on-the-red-planet-hexagons-are-the-bestagons-oucjw8eel) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Even On The Red Planet, Hexagons Are The Bestagons","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/even-on-the-red-planet-hexagons-are-the-bestagons-oucjw8eel","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/even-on-the-red-planet-hexagons-are-the-bestagons-oucjw8eel"},"datePublished":"2026-08-10T08:14:54.650Z","dateModified":"2026-08-10T08:15:17.623Z","description":"NASA's Curiosity rover has discovered a large field of hexagonal polygonal fractures in Valle Grande on Mars. 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NASA has not confirmed how these features formed — possibilities include ancient dried mudflats (implying past liquid water) or freeze-thaw cycles similar to frost heave on Earth. The field stretches as far as the rover's camera can see, making it a significant find for understanding Mars's geologically recent past. Planetary science findings like this land on daily.dev as they break, for developers who follow space tech."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"How long has the Curiosity rover been operating and what has kept it running so long?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Curiosity has been operating long enough to potentially surpass Opportunity's endurance record of 15 Earth-years. Its longevity is attributed to its plutonium-based power source and ongoing software updates. Wheel traction control algorithms were also adjusted to extend wheel life, a change made at least nine years before the time of this report. Engineers tracking long-duration embedded systems and space hardware follow milestones like these on daily.dev."}}]} ```