These yellow crystals were discovered after NASA’s Curiosity rover accidentally drove over a rock on May 30, cracking it. Scientists then used an instrument mounted on the rover’s arm to confirm that the crystals were elemental sulfur. This is the first time this type of sulfur has been found on Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
On May 30, scientists were astonished when a rock passed by NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity broke apart, revealing yellow sulfur crystals never before seen on Mars.
Starting in October 2023, the rover will explore sulfate-rich areas of Mars. sulfur “Sulfur is a mineral that is formed when water evaporates. But whereas previous detections have revealed sulfur-based minerals, or mixtures of sulfur with other substances, the rocks Curiosity recently broke apart are made of elemental sulfur (pure). It’s not clear what relationship, if any, elemental sulfur has to other sulfur-based minerals in the region.”
While sulfur conjures up images of rotten eggs (from hydrogen sulfide gas), elemental sulfur is odorless. It only forms under certain conditions, and scientists haven’t linked it to the site’s history. And Curiosity found lots of sulfur: bright chunks of rock similar to the rocks the rover crushed.
NASA’s Curiosity captured a close-up image of the rock nicknamed “Snow Lake” on the 4,209th Martian day of its mission, June 8, 2024. Nine days earlier, the rover had crushed a similar rock, revealing its internal crystalline structure and elemental sulfur. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
“Finding a rock mass made of pure sulfur is like finding an oasis in the desert,” said Ashwin Vasavada, Curiosity project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “It can’t be there, so you have to explain it. Discovering strange and unexpected things is what makes planetary exploration so exciting.”
This was one of several discoveries Curiosity made during its off-road drive through Gediz Canyon, a groove that winds down part of the 3-mile-high (5-kilometer) Mount Sharp, whose base the rover has been climbing since 2014. Each layer of the mountain represents a different era in Martian history. Curiosity’s mission is to study where and when Mars’ ancient terrain provided the nutrients needed for life. Microbial LifeIf it formed on Mars, it probably
Floods and avalanches
Discovered from space years before Curiosity’s launch, the Gediz Canyon strait was one of the main reasons the science team wanted to visit this part of Mars. Scientists think the strait was carved out by flows of liquid water and debris, leaving a ridge of rock and sediment that stretches for two miles on the mountainside below the strait. The goal is to better understand how this landscape changed billions of years ago, and while recent clues are helping, there’s still a lot to learn from this dramatic formation.
Since Curiosity arrived at the strait earlier this year, scientists have been investigating whether the giant piles of rubble that rose from the bottom of the strait were the result of ancient floods or landslides. Curiosity’s latest clues suggest that both played a role. Some of the piles appear to have been left behind by powerful flows of water and debris, while others appear to be the result of more localized landslides.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity captured this image of Gediz Canyon on March 31. The area was likely formed by a massive flood of water and debris that piled up in mountains of rock within the waterway. Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
These conclusions are based on rocks found in the rubble pile. Water flow While some are rounded like river rocks, some of the rock masses are interspersed with more angular rocks that appear to have been deposited by dry avalanches.
Eventually, water seeped into all of the material that had been deposited here. Chemical reactions caused by the water bleached white “halo” shapes into some of the rocks. Erosion by wind and sand revealed these halo shapes over time.
“This has not been a quiet period on Mars,” said Becky Williams, a scientist at the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona, and deputy principal investigator for Curiosity’s Mast Camera (MastCam). “There has been a lot of activity here. We’ve seen multiple flows of water down the channel, including some violent floods and rocky flows.”
While exploring the Gediz Canyon strait in May, NASA’s Curiosity rover captured images of light-colored rocks near the rim. These rings, also called halos, are similar to the patterns seen on Earth when groundwater seeps along cracks in the rocks, causing chemical reactions that change color. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Hole 41
This evidence of water continues to tell a more complicated story than the team originally anticipated, and they were eager to retrieve rock samples from the channel to learn more. And on June 18, their opportunity arrived.
The sulfur rocks were too small and brittle to drill into, but a large rock formation nicknamed “Mammoth Lakes” was found nearby. The rover’s engineers searched for a section of the rock that could be safely drilled into, parking On a gentle slope.
After Curiosity drilled its 41st hole using a powerful drill on the rover’s 7-foot (2-meter) tip, Robot ArmThe six-wheeled scientists then placed small amounts of the powdered rock into an instrument in the belly of the craft for further analysis, allowing scientists to identify what the rock was made of.
Curiosity has since left Mammoth Lakes and is now exploring what surprises lie in store deep below the surface. channel.
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