National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) The Mars rover Curiosity recently surprised scientists by driving over a rock, cracking it and discovering that pure sulfur is abundant on Mars.
Six-wheeled rover discovers sulfur Mars Until now, it only existed mixed with other minerals like magnesium and calcium. Pure sulfur is an odorless element that forms under very specific conditions that planetary scientists have not linked to the rover’s location, but it appears to permeate many of the rocks in the region. NASA statement
“Finding a chunk of rock made of pure sulfur is like finding an oasis in the desert,” Ashwin Vasavada, mission project scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, said in a statement. “It’s not supposed to be there, so we have to explain it.”
In photos of the rock taken by the rover (above), you can see a cluster of yellow sulfur crystals inside the object’s crushed pocket. NASA says the crystals were too small and fragile for Curiosity to drill into and sample, so it stopped near another large boulder nicknamed Mammoth Lakes. There, the rover used a drill on the end of its robotic arm to bore holes into the rock, storing it for further analysis before trawling it away.
Related: Small Martian “snowman” discovered by NASA’s Mars rover Perseverance (pictured)
Curiosity
A view of the Gediz Canyon channel, captured by Curiosity on March 31. The area was likely formed by large amounts of water and debris that deposited rock piles within the channel. (Image courtesy: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)
Based on what we understand about Mars’ past, Mount Sharp There was more rain billions of years ago
In May, Curiosity captured images of rocks with faint rings or halos near their edges, similar to patterns seen on Earth when groundwater seeps into the rocks along cracks, causing chemical reactions that change their color. (Image courtesy: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)
Scientists aren’t sure what role Martian history may have played in the formation of the pure sulfur discovered this time, or whether the element has any connection to other sulfur-based minerals previously found in the region.
“Discovering strange and unexpected things is what makes planetary exploration so exciting,” Vasavada said.
