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In November 2011, NASA launched a space mission to explore the planet Mars through a vehicle known as Curiosity. After a long journey, the rover landed on the red planet on August 6, 2012, and began sending the first images of the star to Earth.
The goal of this mission is to learn more about whether life ever existed on Mars, as well as to characterize its climate, determine its geology and prepare the scientific community for future human exploration of the red planet. After several years of studies, the Curiosity rover accidentally broke a rock in May 2024 and what researchers found inside led to new questions.
Renee Nicole Good, the woman shot by ICE in Minneapolis
The spacecraft passed over the rock and, when it stepped on it, it broke. When it broke, it was discovered that inside it hid something that NASA scientists had never been able to confirm before: the presence of bright yellow crystals of elemental sulfur, better known as “native sulfur”.
Ashwin Vasavada, scientist: “It’s like finding an oasis in the desert”
The presence of sulfur on Mars is not new. In fact, the Curiosity rover was able to find this yellow chemical element previously. However, until now, its presence was found in sulfates, salts that form after water evaporates, whereas pure sulfur forms under very specific geochemical circumstances.
To understand the importance of the discovery, Ashwin Vasavada, Curiosity’s project scientist, said: “Finding a field of stones made of pure sulfur is like finding an oasis in the desert”. In fact, the rover was able to find several more ‘strange’ rocks beyond the one it broke.The discovery took place in the Gediz Vallis canyon on Mount Sharp (Gale Crater), a mountain about 5,000 meters high that the Curiosity rover has been climbing since 2014, using the different layers as a natural chronology of the changing environments of the red planet.
Although discovering this material in its pure state is an absolute novelty on Mars, this is not tangible proof of life on the planet. However, it is a clear marker in the search for habitable places.
