NASA scientists mentioned the Curiosity Mars rover by accident found a cluster of yellow crystals whereas driving over a rock, marking the primary time pure sulfur has been discovered on Mars. And it appears like the world is stuffed with it. It was an surprising discovery – whereas minerals containing sulfur have been noticed on the Crimson Planet, the ingredient sulfur itself had by no means been discovered there earlier than. “It shaped underneath solely a small set of circumstances, and scientists have but to attach these circumstances to the positioning’s historical past,” in accordance with the positioning.
On Could 30, Curiosity opened up a rock whereas touring in an space referred to as the Gediz Vallis Strait, and related rocks might be seen all over the place round it. The channel is believed to have been carved by water and particles flows way back. “Discovering a subject of stones fabricated from pure sulfur is like discovering an oasis within the desert,” mentioned Curiosity venture scientist Ashwin Vasavada. “It should not be there, so now we now have to elucidate it. Discovering unusual and surprising issues is what makes planetary exploration so thrilling.”
After discovering the yellow crystals, the crew then took a more in-depth look utilizing cameras on Curiosity’s robotic arm. The rover then collected a pattern from one other close by rock as a result of the rock fragments it crushed had been too brittle to drill. Curiosity is provided with devices able to analyzing rock and soil composition, and NASA mentioned its Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) confirmed its discovery of elemental sulfur.
