NASA appears to have stumbled upon a treasure trove on Mars. The Curiosity rover, which has been there since 2002, was working when it accidentally broke apart a seemingly ordinary rock. But the metal inside revealed something special.
according to NASAThe rock weighed about 900 kilograms when Curiosity “trampled” it and broke off. Inside the rock were found yellow crystals made of sulfur, the pure elemental form of sulfur.
Sulfur found on Mars
Although sulfur is not uncommon on Mars, this is the first time it has been found in the form of sulfur. What’s more, the place where it was seen, the Geddes Vallis channel, is full of cliff-like rocks on the outside, so it could also be filled with sulfur.
“Finding a field of rocks made of pure sulfur is like finding an oasis in the desert,” said Curiosity project scientist Ashwin Vasavada of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “It shouldn’t be there, so now we have to make it clear. Finding strange and unexpected things is what makes planetary exploration so exciting.”
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It is not clear what relationship, if any, the element has to other sulfur-based minerals in the area.
The Gediz Vallis Canal was spotted from space years before Curiosity launched, and is one of the main reasons the science team visited this part of Mars. Scientists believe the canal was carved by flows of liquid water and debris that left behind a trail of rocks and sediments.
