Nasa’s Curiosity rover has just discovered pure sulphur on Mars after driving over and cracking a rock. Space.com says that this surprising development fascinates scientists and brings back interest in the geological history of Mars and its potential for life.
Previously, Curiosity had detected sulphur on Mars but mixed with other minerals like magnesium and calcium. Pure sulphur which forms under specific conditions had not been seen in the rover’s present location. There is a lot of sulphur in many rocks around here, according to Nasa.
“This is like finding an oasis in the desert – a field of stones made up of only sulphur,” said Ashwin Vasavada, project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. “It shouldn’t be there, so now we have to explain it.”
Images from the rover reveal yellow sulphurous crystals within the broken indentations of rock. These crystals were too tiny and brittle for investigation by means of drilling tool onboard Curiosity. Therefore, the robot moved to another one, called Mammoth Lakes which was much bigger stone where it used its drill to obtain some samples for further analysis.
Curiosity found this out while studying the Gediz Vallis channel on Mount Sharp inside Gale Crater on May 30th. The channel has been probed by the rover seeking evidence of ancient microbe activity.
Mount Sharp is said to have been wetter billions ago compared to today. The Gediz Vallis channel which may have been formed as Mars dried out through intense winds or water flows contains remnants pointing towards this wetter past. Pale rings or halos appear near the edges that are close to rocks as a result chemical reactions caused due to water soaking into them suggesting that these rocks absorbed minerals deposited into them through water.
The formation process of solid sulfur as well as the link between other sulfur-based minerals found around are still being investigated by scientists.
“Planetary exploration becomes interesting when discoveries are made that are strange or unexpected. For instance, I ran over a rock and found crystals inside! It’s pure sulphur (And no, it doesn’t smell!). We have never seen elemental sulphur on Mars. As for these yellow crystals – we do not know much yet, but my team can’t wait to start studying them,” noted the rover in its Facebook post.
The rover pointed out that unlike hydrogen sulphide which has the stink of rotten eggs, elemental sulphur is odorless. This information suggests that this location is associated with specific conditions other than those previously speculated by scientists.
Sulfur is an element essential to life alongwith carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen and phosphorus making up 98% of living matter found on Earth. The scientists have thus begun to reconsider life’s possibility in Mars since and its geological history.
Curiosity’s recent discovery at Gediz Vallis channel which could be around three billion years old due to running water raises new questions about Mars. According to Vasavada, luck played a part in this finding which was vital as it expanded their knowledge about the Red Planet unexpectedly.
