NASA’s Curiosity rover discovered rocks made of pure sulfur on Mars on May 30, 2024. It is the first time this kind of sulfur has been found on the Red Planet.
Pure sulfur, or elemental sulfur, differs from sulfur-based minerals. Pure sulfur is odorless, while sulfur-based minerals smell like rotten eggs (due to the presence of hydrogen sulfide gas).
“Finding a field of stones made of pure sulfur is like finding an oasis in the desert,” said Curiosity’s project scientist, Ashwin Vasavada of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
“It shouldn’t be there, so now we have to explain it. Discovering strange and unexpected things is what makes planetary exploration so exciting,” he added.
The Curiosity rover has been exploring an ancient dry riverbed on Mars since earlier this year, named the Gediz Vallis Channel.
Scientists are still not sure where such pure sulfur crystals on the channel’s floor come from.
However, they have found two possibilities for building up this kind of debris: either by ancient floodwaters or by local landslides.
As the rover is exploring the channel’s floor, we are waiting to see what other surprises will be discovered.
Currently, NASA’s two rovers, Curiosity and Perseverance, are operating on Mars. Curiosity is exploring the Gale crater, while Perseverance is exploring the Jezero crater.
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