Drag your mouse or transfer your telephone to discover this 360-degree panorama supplied by NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover. This view was captured inside Gediz Vallis channel, which was possible shaped by historic floodwaters and landslides. After Curiosity drove over a shiny Martian rock and cracked it open, scientists found it was stuffed with pure sulfur — one thing that’s by no means been seen on Mars earlier than.
- Curiosity rover discovers pure sulfur crystals in a Martian rock for the primary time, stunning scientists.
- Gediz Vallis’ various panorama was formed by floods and landslides and has supplied proof of dynamic water exercise.
- The discovering poses new questions on Mars’ geological historical past, as Curiosity continues to discover Gediz Vallis channel, aiming to know the traditional Martian setting and its potential to have supported microbial life.
NASA first revealed this authentic article on July 18, 2024. Edits by EarthSky.
Researchers shocked by hidden contents of Martian rock
Scientists had been surprised on Might 30, 2024, when a Martian rock that NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover drove over cracked open to disclose one thing by no means seen earlier than on the crimson planet: yellow sulfur crystals.
Since October 2023, the rover has been exploring a area of Mars wealthy with sulfates, a type of salt that accommodates sulfur and varieties as water evaporates. However the place previous detections have been of sulfur-based minerals – in different phrases, a mixture of sulfur and different supplies – the rock Curiosity not too long ago cracked open is manufactured from elemental, or pure, sulfur. It isn’t clear what relationship, if any, the fundamental sulfur has to different sulfur-based minerals within the space.
Whereas individuals affiliate sulfur with the odor from rotten eggs (the results of hydrogen sulfide gasoline), elemental sulfur is odorless. It varieties in solely a slim vary of circumstances that scientists haven’t related to the historical past of this location. And Curiosity discovered loads of it – a whole discipline of shiny rocks that look just like the one the rover crushed.
Curiosity’s mission scientist Ashwin Vasavada of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory defined why researchers had been so stunned:
Discovering a discipline of stones manufactured from pure sulfur is like discovering an oasis within the desert. It shouldn’t be there, so now now we have to clarify it. Discovering unusual and sudden issues is what makes planetary exploration so thrilling.
*Cronch* I ran over a rock and located crystals inside!
It is pure sulfur. (And no, it doesn’t odor.) Elemental sulfur is one thing we’ve by no means seen earlier than on Mars. We do not know a lot about these yellow crystals but, however my workforce is worked up to research. https://t.co/Am07DuXpPX pic.twitter.com/coIqWWGGJq
— Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) July 18, 2024
A ‘curious’ discovery
It’s one in every of a number of discoveries Curiosity has made inside Gediz Vallis channel, a groove that winds down a part of the 3-mile-tall (5-kilometer-tall) Mount Sharp, the bottom of which the rover has been ascending since 2014. Every layer of the mountain represents a distinct interval of Martian historical past. Curiosity’s mission is to check the place and when the planet’s historic terrain may have supplied the vitamins wanted for microbial life, if any ever shaped on Mars.
Picture by way of NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Proof hints violent historic floods and avalanches formed Mars
Gediz Vallis channel is likely one of the major causes the science workforce wished to go to this a part of Mars. Scientists suppose that the channel was carved by flows of liquid water and particles that left a ridge of boulders and sediment extending 2 miles (3.2 km) down the mountainside beneath the channel. The aim has been to develop a greater understanding of how this panorama modified billions of years in the past, and whereas current clues have helped, there’s nonetheless a lot to be taught from the dramatic panorama.
Since Curiosity’s arrival on the channel earlier this 12 months, scientists have studied whether or not historic floodwaters or landslides constructed up the massive mounds of particles that stand up from the channel’s flooring right here. The most recent clues from Curiosity counsel each performed a job: some piles had been possible left by violent flows of water and particles, whereas others look like the results of extra native landslides.
These conclusions are based mostly on rocks discovered within the particles mounds: Whereas stones carried by water flows turn out to be rounded like river rocks, among the particles mounds are riddled with extra angular rocks that will have been deposited by dry avalanches.
Lastly, water soaked into all the fabric that settled right here. Chemical reactions attributable to the water bleached white “halo” shapes into among the rocks. Erosion from wind and sand has revealed these halo shapes over time.
Becky Williams, a scientist with the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona, and the deputy principal investigator of Curiosity’s Mast Digital camera, or Mastcam, described the early mayhem on the crimson planet:
This was not a quiet interval on Mars. There was an thrilling quantity of exercise right here. We’re a number of flows down the channel, together with energetic floods and boulder-rich flows.
Martian rock discovery: A gap in 41
All this proof of water continues to inform a extra advanced story than the workforce’s early expectations, they usually’ve been desperate to take a Martian rock pattern from the channel in an effort to be taught extra. On June 18, 2024, they obtained their likelihood.
Whereas the sulfur rocks had been too small and brittle to be sampled with the drill, a big Martian rock nicknamed “Mammoth Lakes” was noticed close by. Rover engineers needed to seek for part of the rock that will enable protected drilling and discover a parking spot on the free, sloping floor.
After Curiosity bored its forty first gap utilizing the highly effective drill on the finish of the rover’s 7-foot (2-meter) robotic arm, the six-wheeled scientist trickled the powdered rock into devices inside its stomach for additional evaluation in order that scientists can decide what supplies the rock is manufactured from.
Curiosity has since pushed away from Mammoth Lakes and is now off to see what different surprises are ready to be found throughout the channel.
Backside line: The rover Curiosity discovered sulfur crystals in a Martian rock for the primary time. Researchers say they shouldn’t be there and are looking for an evidence.
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