Each tourist spot has at least one rock that looks like an animal. A representative example is the turtle rock, which symbolizes longevity. In Korea, the turtle rocks on Yeongjong Island in Incheon and on Ulleung Island are famous, and abroad, the 24-meter-tall turtle rock in Gorkhi-Terelj National Park in Mongolia is considered a world-renowned tourist attraction.
There is a turtle rock outside Earth, too. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on the 21st (local time) selected a turtle rock found on the Red Planet, Mars, as the "Astronomy Picture of the Day" and released it. Curiosity Rover, NASA's wheeled exploration robot, discovered this unusual rocky hill, named Miraflores, on the 4,922nd day of its Mars mission last month.
The rocky hill in the photo is 15 meters wide. It is believed to have remained until now thanks to its greater resistance to erosion than the surrounding rocks. The summit is covered with sand due to recent winds, and multiple layers of rock are exposed below. It is a landform created as windblown sand was deposited over a long time and repeatedly mixed with groundwater and cemented.
Similar layered rocks can be seen on Earth. A representative example is the "yardang" rock in Dunhuang National Geopark in the Qaidam Basin of northwestern China. A yardang refers to a narrow, elongated ridge-shaped hill formed in deserts by strong wind erosion.
The Qaidam Basin sits at an elevation of 2,600–3,000 meters. As the sedimentary rock was eroded differently layer by layer by strong winds, it formed distinctive shapes. The lion yardang here resembles a crouching lion or a sphinx.
It is not surprising that the lion rock of the Qaidam Basin and the turtle rock on Mars look oddly alike. The Qaidam Basin has deep ties to Mars. One-third desert, it is dry and desolate like Mars, so scientists use it as a base to experience and study Martian conditions in advance.
The place where Mars's turtle rock was found is Gale Crater, where a vast lake and rivers are believed to have existed billions of years ago. Since landing on Mars in 2012, Curiosity has been searching here for signs of life. It is no mere coincidence that a rock resembling a turtle, a symbol of longevity, appeared in a place where the rover is looking for traces of life that have endured for billions of years.
Perseverance Rover, which arrived on Mars in 2021, is also tracking signs of life in Jezero Crater, where a lake and rivers are believed to have existed in the past. Jezero Crater is also near Mars's equator and is 3,700 kilometers from Gale Crater, which Curiosity is exploring.
References
Astronomy Picture of the Day (2026), https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260721.html