‘An oasis in the desert’: NASA’s Curiosity rover finds pure sulfur in Martian rocks

NASA’s Curiosity rover discovered a large amount of pure sulfur on Mars after recently driving over a rock and breaking it up, stunning scientists.

The six-wheeled rover had detected sulfur on Mars before, but only in a mixture with other minerals, including magnesium and calcium. Pure sulfur — an odorless element that forms under very specific conditions that planetary scientists had not linked to the rover’s location — appears to be present in many rocks in the region, according to a study. NASA Statement.

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

In the photo of the rock taken by the rover (above), yellow sulfur crystals can be seen packed inside the inner regions of the object’s crushed cavities. These crystals were too small and fragile for Curiosity to sample with a drill, so it ended up parking itself near another large rock nicknamed Mammoth Lakes, according to NASA. Here, the rover used a drill on the end of its robotic arm to make a hole in that rock and stored it for later analysis before moving on.

Related: The tiny ‘snowman’ of Mars spotted by NASA’s Perseverance rover (photo)

CuriosityThe rover, now in its 12th year of mission, stumbled upon its latest discovery on May 30 while exploring Gediz Vallis, a channel that meanders down the slopes of Mount Sharp in the center of Gale Crater. The rover has been studying the channel for the past several months, searching for signs of ancient microbial life.

Reddish landscape with a mountain in the background and rocky areas in the foreground. To the right you can see a wide, shallow valley.

A view of the Gediz Vallis channel captured by Curiosity on March 31. This area was likely formed by large floods of water and debris that piled up mounds of rock within the channel. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)

From what we know of Mars’ past, Mount Sharp would have been much larger. Wetter billions of years ago The Gediz Vallis channel that meanders through the mountain would have been carved as the planet began to dry out, possibly by strong winds or even violent flows of liquid water. Curiosity has identified some signs of this history, particularly in mounds of debris scattered within the channel. The rocks feature pale rings or halos near their edges, which scientists say are caused by water-driven chemical reactions after the rocks absorbed available minerals deposited in the area.

A whitish rock with various textures.

In May, Curiosity captured this image of rocks showing pale rings, or halos, near their edges. They resemble the markings seen on Earth when groundwater seeps into rocks along fractures, triggering chemical reactions that change the color. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)

Scientists aren’t sure what role Mars’ history might have played in the formation of the newly discovered pure sulfur, or whether the element has any connections to other sulfur-based minerals previously discovered in the region.

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