NASA’s Mars Rover Accidentally Cracked Open a Rock and What Was Inside Stunned Scientists

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover recently drove over a rock, cracking it open in the process. This broken Martian rock quickly revealed a discovery that stunned scientists: yellow sulfur crystals.

Since 2014, Curiosity has been ascending the Gediz Vallis channel, which is a 3-mile tall groove on Mount Sharp. Scientists have explained that each layer of this specific mountain seems to represent different times in Mars’ history.

Curiosity’s years-long mission has been to study the Mars landscape and seek out evidence of possible past microbial life on Mars.

In October 2023, Curiosity began to explore a specific part of Mars that has many sulfates. Sulfates is a particular salt that contains sulfur, yet only forms when water evaporates.

When Curiosity drove over this rock, it cracked the rock open. Inside this rock were many elemental, or pure, sulfur crystals.

NASA scientists, such as Curiosity’s project scientist Ashwin Vasavada, have explained that these crystals can only form in a very specific condition. So far, they haven’t seen this in the history of this area of Mars.

This remarkable discovery was made in an area of the Gediz Vallis channel that hints at a very active history on Mars.

Years before Curiosity first launched, NASA scientists spotted the Gediz Vallis channel from space and wanted to learn more about it. NASA’s Mars rover is now uncovering many mysteries within this channel, most notably this recent sulfur crystal discovery.

So far, scientists have been able to put together Curiosity data to uncover some of Mars’ ancient secrets. Researchers have theorized that the large amounts of debris that seem to rise up from the Gediz Vallis channel’s floor were either created by floods or landslides from long ago.

Thanks to Curiosity’s work, NASA scientists now believe that these debris piles were likely created and left behind by ancient floodwaters that were quite active and violent.

Becky Williams, the deputy principal investigator of Curiosity’s Mast Camera, has explained that these findings help shed light on a very active period in Mars’ history.

One thing is for certain: many mysteries on Mars remain. While this discovery of elemental sulfur is remarkable, scientists now have another mystery to solve. They want to figure out how this is even possible.