From NASA Curiosity rover It has discovered “glowing sulfur crystals” on Mars after the rover drove over a rock.
According to the Canadian Space Agency, on May 30 of this year, as the Curiosity rover continued its ascent of Mount Sharp, a 5-kilometer-high mountain, it rolled over a rock and cracked it.
When examined with the Canadian-built Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS), the instrument indicated the rocks contained “pure elemental sulfur,” which was unexpected.
The CSA says APXS is “mounted on Curiosity’s robotic arm” and that “the Canadian instrument bombarded the sulfur with X-rays and alpha particles, revealing its true elemental nature.”
When NASA released the findings in mid-July, it stated: “Since October 2023, the rover has been exploring a region of Mars rich in sulfatesa type of salt that contains sulfur and forms when water evaporates. But where sulfur-based minerals (in other words, a mixture of sulfur and other materials) have been detected in the past, the rock Curiosity recently opened is made of elemental, or pure, sulfur. It’s not clear what relationship, if any, elemental sulfur has to other sulfur-based minerals in the area.”
The CSA added that “sulfur forms under very specific conditions, so finding it in pure, elemental form suggests that Mars may have experienced environments we never imagined. This discovery adds another piece to the mystery of whether Mars could have supported life in its ancient past.”
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