NASA’s Curiosity rover accidentally uncovered pure sulfur crystals on Mars
NASA scientists thunder pure sulfur has been discovered on Mars for the predominant time after the Curiosity rover inadvertently uncovered a cluster of yellow crystals when it drove over a rock. And it looks to be admire the residence is elephantine of it. It’s an unexpected discovery — while minerals containing sulfur like been observed on the Red Planet, elemental sulfur by itself has never been considered there before. “It forms in handiest a narrow differ of circumstances that scientists haven’t associated with the historic past of this build,” according to NASA.
Curiosity cracked start the rock on May perhaps perhaps 30 while utilizing in a station is named the Gediz Vallis channel, the build linked rocks were considered all over. The channel is believed to love been carved by water and particles flows system support. “Finding a self-discipline of stones made of pure sulfur is admire finding an oasis within the barren region,” talked about Ashwin Vasavada, Curiosity’s mission scientist. “It shouldn’t be there, so now we want to show cowl it. Discovering irregular and unexpected issues is what makes planetary exploration so racy.”
After spotting the yellow crystals, the crew later broken-down a camera on Curiosity’s robotic arm to take a closer perceive. The rover then took a sample from a definite rock nearby, because the pieces of the rock it had smashed were too brittle for drilling. Curiosity is supplied with instruments that allow it to analyze the composition of rocks and soil, and NASA says its Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) confirmed it had discovered elemental sulfur.
