NASA's Curiosity Rover Discovers Treasure Trove of Yellow Crystals on Mars

For nearly a decade, NASA’s four-wheeled robot has been climbing the slopes of Mount Sharp, a towering mountain on Mars that sits atop an ancient volcanic crater, uncovering the secrets of each layer. In its latest discovery, the Mars rover has found a field of rocks made of pure sulfur, a chemical element that could hold valuable clues to the Red Planet’s watery past.

The Curiosity rover recently drove over a rock, accidentally cracking it. Inside were bright yellow crystals, which scientists later identified as elemental sulfur, according to NASA. He saidAlthough sulfur-based minerals (a mixture of sulfur and other materials) have been found on Mars before, this is the first discovery of rocks made of pure sulfur. There may be a large number of them on Mars, but scientists are not sure how they formed.

“Finding a field of rocks made of pure sulfur is like finding an oasis in the desert,” Ashwin Vasavada, Curiosity project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in a statement. “It shouldn’t be there, so now we have to explain it.”

Pure sulfur is tasteless and odorless, and occurs naturally in volcanic regions as a result of the oxidation of hydrogen sulfide. But the area explored by Curiosity showed no signs of past volcanic activity. Pure sulfur could also be a source of volcanic gases. Form By oxidizing reduced sulfur compounds through microbial activity. In this case, the detection of sulfur on Mars may be useful in the search for ancient microbial life on the Red Planet.

Curiosity has been exploring the Geddes Canyon, a meandering channel that may have been carved by an ancient river that left a two-mile-long trail of rock and sediment. By exploring this area, the rover is gathering evidence of places in the planet’s ancient terrain that may have provided the nutrients needed for microbial life on Mars.

Curiosity couldn't grab a sample of the sulfur rock because it was too small and fragile, but it did find a large rock nearby that the team called “Mammoth Lakes.” The rover used a drill attached to the end of its 7-foot (2-meter) robotic arm to bore a hole in the rock and grab samples that could be analyzed by instruments on board the rover inside the belly of the rover.

“Discovering strange and unexpected things is what makes planetary exploration so exciting,” Vasavada said.

more: Things You Didn't Know About NASA's Mars Rovers