Exciting discovery: Mars rover accidentally finds rocks made of pure sulfur
On Thursday, NASA shared that their scientists were stunned back on May 30 when a rock that NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover drove over cracked open to reveal something never seen before on the Red Planet: yellow sulfur crystals.
Since October 2023, the Mars rover has been exploring a region of the Red Planet that is rich with sulfates, a kind of salt that contains sulfur and forms as water evaporates. But where past detections have been of sulfur-based minerals — in other words, a mix of sulfur and other materials — the rock Curiosity recently cracked open is made of elemental, or pure, sulfur. It isn’t clear what relationship, if any, the elemental sulfur has to other sulfur-based minerals in the area.
While people associate sulfur with the odor from rotten eggs (the result of hydrogen sulfide gas), elemental sulfur is odorless. It forms in only a narrow range of conditions that scientists haven’t associated with the history of this location. And Curiosity found a lot of it — an entire field of bright rocks that look similar to the one the rover crushed.
“Finding a field of stones made of pure sulfur is like finding an oasis in the desert,” said Curiosity’s project scientist, Ashwin Vasavada of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “It shouldn’t be there, so now we have to explain it. Discovering strange and unexpected things is what makes planetary exploration so exciting.”
Curiosity, which landed in the region in 2012, has found several other intriguing rocks in and around Gediz Vallis. In February, the rover snapped photos of “waves” carved into an ancient lakebed by Martian water millions of years ago. And in May, the wandering robot found rocks containing manganese oxide, which is the best evidence yet that the Red Planet once had an oxygen-rich, Earth-like atmosphere. ~ Live Science
It’s one of several discoveries Curiosity has made while off-roading within Gediz Vallis channel, a groove that winds down part of the 3-mile-tall (5-kilometer-tall) Mount Sharp, the base of which the rover has been ascending since 2014. Each layer of the mountain represents a different period of Martian history. Curiosity’s mission is to study where and when the planet’s ancient terrain could have provided the nutrients needed for microbial life, if any ever formed on Mars.
For more about Mars’ Curiosity, visit: science.nasa.gov/mission/msl-curiosity
Also, click on the YouTube video below and drag your mouse or move your phone to explore a 360-degree panorama provided by NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover. This view was captured within Gediz Vallis channel, which was likely formed by ancient floodwaters and landslides. After Curiosity drove over a bright stone and cracked it open, scientists discovered it was filled with pure sulfur — something that’s never been seen on Mars before. Enjoy!
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(Source: NASA / Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today
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