The US space agency has directed its Mars rover Curiosity to probe mysterious rocks on Red Planet.
The rover is currently investigating an outcrop called Pahrump Hills at its destination mountain "Mount Sharp".
"We see a diversity of textures in this outcrop - some parts finely layered and fine-grained, others more blocky with erosion-resistant ledges," said Curiosity deputy project scientist Ashwin Vasavada in a statement.
Curiosity has completed a reconnaissance "walkabout" of the first outcrop it reached at the base of "Mount Sharp" in 2013.
The scientists now want the rover to climb up through the 5.5 km mountain's foothills to study mysterious rocks.
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It bears layers of diverse textures that the mission has been studying since Curiosity acquired a drilled sample from the outcrop in September.
Curiosity landed inside the 154-km Gale Crater in August 2012.
The mission was to determine if Mars has ever been capable of supporting life.
The findings revealed that a place near its landing site called Yellowknife Bay was a habitable lake-and-stream system billions of years ago, Space.com reported.
