Mars still remains an absolute mystery – but hopefully photographs taken by the Curiosity Mars rover will not only help NASA increase its understanding of the red planet, but also lessen the wild conspiracy theories previous images have provoked.

The latest array of images released by NASA were taken in the “Murray Buttes” region of lower Mount Sharp – yes, areas have already been named – an 18 000 ft (5.5 km) mountain.

The rover is looking into how and when habitable conditions existed on Mars. Sky News has more:

Curiosity Project scientist Ashwin Vasavada said the team was “thrilled” to undertake the expedition, describing the landscape as “a bit of American desert Southwest on Mars”.

The striking rock formations captured by the rover’s Mast Camera, are the remnants of ancient sandstone which were formed when winds deposited sand on the lower regions of the mountain.

Mr Vasavada said: “Studying these buttes up close has given us a better understanding of ancient sand dunes that formed and were buried, chemically changed by groundwater, exhumed and eroded to form the landscape that we see today.”

Here are a few of the images released by NASA:

Pretty sweet huh – although I’m sure the alien-life conspiracies will still continue to take shape in the unknown.

[source:skynews]