NASA scientists say they have discovered pure sulfur on Mars for the first time after the Curiosity rover accidentally uncovered a cluster of yellow crystals when it drove over a rock. And the whole area seems to be full. This was an unexpected discovery – although sulfur-containing minerals have been found on the Red Planet, elemental sulfur had not been found there before. “It develops only in a narrow range of conditions that scientists do not associate with the history of this place,” according to .
On May 30, Curiosity encountered a rock crack while driving through an area known as the Gediz Vallis Channel, where similar rocks were found all around. The channel is thought to have been carved by the flow of water and debris a long time ago. “Finding a field of rocks made of pure sulfur is like finding an oasis in the desert,” said Ashwin Vasavata, Curiosity’s project scientist. “It shouldn’t be, so now we have to explain it. Finding strange and unexpected things is what makes planetary exploration so exciting.
After spotting the yellow crystals, the team then uses a camera on Curiosity’s robotic arm to get a closer look. The rover took a sample from another nearby rock because the pieces of rock it broke were too fragile to drill through. Curiosity is equipped with instruments that allow it to analyze the composition of rocks and soil, and NASA confirmed that its Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) detected elemental sulfur.
