NASA’s Curiosity Rover Just Cracked A Rock On Mars And Discovered Something Out of This World

NASA’s Curiosity rover, operating on Mars since 2012 just cracked open a rock on Mars to discover something out of this world. The cracked Martian rock contains a yellowish treasure that amazes scientists. So, how did Curiosity find and crack this Martian rock? What could the yellowish treasure be? Continue reading to find out.

How Curiosity Rover Cracked Open The Rock

While the Curiosity rover explored the Gediz Vallis Channel on Mars in May, the Martian rover mistakenly rolled over a rock and cracked it. The rover turned around to capture what it had just cracked, it discovered yellowish crystals of elemental sulfur named brimstone.

Curiosity was able to crack the stone as its 899 kg (1,982 lb) body weight was built sophisticated enough to survive every obstacle known to humankind. Scientists were thrilled with this discovery. Previous observations have enabled astronomers to discover sulfates on Mars.

However, this discovery is the first time researchers have seen sulfur in its pure elemental form on Mars. Scientists are excited as the Gediz Vallis Channel still contains rocks that look similar to the one the Curiosity cracked open.

The findings show that elemental sulfur may likely exist in abundance on the red planet. Ashwin Vasavada, Curiosity project scientist of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory stated that discovering a field of stones containing pure elemental sulfur is similar to finding an oasis at the center of a desert. Hence, researchers are so curious to see what lies inside other rocks within the Gediz Vallis.

Why discovery is important to NASA

The recent findings of pure sulfur element inside a rock on Mars have shown a promising future of harnessing abundant natural minerals from the Martian terrain. NASA’s Curiosity rover has made several discoveries within the Gediz Vallis channel, proving that a great treasure lies within that region of Mars.

Note that the Gediz Vallis channel exists as a wind-down part within a 3 mi (5 km) tall Mount Sharp. The rover has been ascending the base of the Mount for the last 10 years. Previous NASA missions have shown that the Gediz Valliz channel has different layers, each representing different periods of the Martian history.

NASA sent the Curiosity rover to primarily study this unique region of Mars. Scientists believe that the Gediz Valliz channel has the most nutrients required to sustain ancient microbial life on Mars. NASA hopes to discover crucial evidence in this region before the retirement of the Curiosity rover.