On the Red Planet, NASA’s Curiosity rover drove over a rock and accidentally found pure sulfur, a completely new discovery on Mars.
The Curiosity rover has just made a curious discovery on Mars. Its discovery is all the more astonishing because it probably would never have made it if it had not first driven over it. I rolled over a rock and found crystals inside! », tweeted The official mission account on July 18, 2024. The rocks accidentally discovered by the NASA rover contain pure sulfur.
Curiosity discovers never-before-seen yellow sulfur crystals on Mars
« Scientists were stunned on May 30 when the rock that NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity had driven over cracked to reveal something never before seen on the Red Planet: yellow sulfur crystals. “, says the space agency in a press releaseAccording to NASA, this is the first time that rocks composed of pure sulfur have been identified on Mars.
On Earth, we usually associate sulfur with the unpleasant smell of a “rotten egg.” Yet on Mars, the pure sulfur discovered on Curiosity ” does not smell “Its presence in the area surveyed by the rover is for the moment very mysterious. Curiosity drove over the rock while traveling through the Gediz Vallis channel, which is located on Mount Sharp — a mountain of 5.5 km skin on Mars.
Scientists did not expect the rover to make this discovery at this location. However, ” Curiosity found a lot of themdetails NASA, an entire field of shiny rocks that look like the ones the rover crushed ».
A link to life on Mars?
The scientific community shared its enthusiasm for this news. Nearly 12 years after arriving on Mars, the Curiosity rover continues to amaze us with its discoveries! », greet Doctor of Planetology Thomas Appéré on X. These pure sulfur crystals are beautiful and so interesting. », add Laurie Leshin, director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
« One reason this is so significant is that the crystals were found in the Gedizz Vallis channel, which may have been carved out by water. This could be huge because on Earth, sulfur is found near hydrothermal vents, deep in the ocean, where microbial life thrives. », also comments Sophia Gad-Nasr, doctoral student in cosmology.
Does Curiosity’s discovery mean that life once existed on Mars? Such a conclusion would be, as is often the case, hasty. However, the unexpected discovery of this pure sulfur rock seems quite promising.
Source: www.numerama.com
