Mars is more porous than we thought, Nasa's Curiosity rover finds in breakthrough study

Mars is more porous and less compacted than we thought, scientists have found in a breakthrough study that used data from Nasa's Curiosity rover in unusual ways. The researchers used non-science engineering data to understand the red planet's surface and measure how dense the rocks are in the 96-mile-wide Gale Crater. The discovery is not only a breakthrough in our understanding of Mars's surface, but gives researchers studying it a brand new way of exploring the planet as the Curiosity rover continues to drive around on it. Scientists made the discovery by taking data from engineering sensors that are on board Curiosity. They are accelerometers and gyroscopes, of the kind used to tell a smartphone where it is pointing.