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Starfleet had a base on Mars, as evidenced by an image captured by NASA's Curiosity rover. Amateur astronomer Scott Atkinson found the stone sculpture of the Starfleet insignia among a pile of rocks on the Red Planet's Mount Sharp (Aeolis Mons).

Explanation: Why are there so many flat rocks on Mars? Some views of plains and hills on Mars show many rocks that are unusually flat when compared to rocks on Earth. One reason for this is a process that is common to both Mars and Earth: erosion. The carbon-dioxide wind on Mars can act like sandpaper when it blows around gritty Martian sand. This sand can create differential erosion, smoothing over some rocks, while wearing down the tops of other long-exposed stones. The featured image capturing several hills covered with flat-topped rocks was taken last month by NASA's Curiosity Rover...

The Curiosity rover took a picture of something pretty enticing this week on the surface of Mars. While the object in question looks like a tiny little flower or maybe even some type of organic feature, the rover team confirmed this object is a mineral formation, with delicate structures that formed by minerals precipitating from water. Curiosity has actually seen these types of features before, which are called diagenetic crystal clusters. Diagenetic means the recombination or rearrangement of minerals, and these features consist of three-dimensional crystal clusters, likely made of a combination of minerals. Curiosity deputy project scientist Abigail Fraeman...

On July 2nd, humanity's rugged little Mars explorer, Curiosity, automatically shut itself down and restricted most of its functions over the holiday weekend. Fortunately, scientists successfully secured communications with the rover, so all is not lost, and soon their diagnostics will reveal what went wrong. The little information they've received thus far points to "an unexpected mismatch between camera software and data-processing software in the main computer", though they'll know more after a full data dump. It will take some time to draw information across the gulf of space between Mars and Earth, which were only 46.8 million miles away...

NASA's Curiosity rover has been busy with its drill again, and analysis of the second sample of Martian rock is already turning up some unexpected conditions back when the red planet supported liquid water. Curiosity put its low-percussion-level drill into play for the first time last week, carving a chunk out of a site known as "Mojave 2" at the base of Mount Sharp, and feeding it in powder form into its Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instrument. Turns out, even though the analysis isn't finished yet, there are already signs of a surprising amount of jarosite, to a degree that...

And still the strange and intriguing sightings in photos taken by the Mars Curiosity rover keep coming: This time with the image of what looks like a humanoid figure bracketed by three bold, indented parallel lines. UFO Sightings Hotspot reported Oct. 17 that the NASA's Curiosity rover had inadvertently spied a petroglyph -- or rock engraving -- among the rust-colored stones on the Red Planet. The website noted that what looks like an etching in stone, little more than a stylized stick figure, is nearly identical to hundreds of petroglyphs engraved in columns, slabs, and rocks all over planet...

After recovering from a computer problem, the Mars rover Curiosity is sidelined again, further delaying the restart of science experiments. The latest complication occurred over the weekend when the six-wheel rover entered safe mode after experiencing a software file error. 'We would definitely like to get over this and get back to doing something.' - Project manager Richard Cook Curiosity remained in contact with ground controllers, but it can't zap rocks, snap pictures or roam around until the problem is fixed. Rover team members had expected to resume activities Monday, but they now have to wait a bit longer —...

Mars Was Once Covered In Hip-Deep Flowing Water Jennifer WelshSeptember 27,2012The Curiosity rover's science team has come to a consensus: There was once a large amount of flowing water in Gale Crater. They can't say when, or for how long, but based on the types, shapes and sizes of rocks they've been seeing, they can say, finally, there was flowing water on Mars. We aren't talking about a small amount of water either: The stream running from a canyon in Mount Sharpe called Peace Vallis could have been up to hip deep. The water eroded jagged rocks into smooth stones...