NASA rover makes surprising discovery that hints at life on Mars

Imagine taking a leisurely Sunday drive, and you accidentally smash something on the road that turns out to be an unprecedented scientific revelation. Well, that’s exactly what happened to NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover on May 30, 2024 when it struck sulfur.

While working its usual Martian shift, the rover stumbled upon, rather drove over, a rock and cracked it wide open, revealing a sight never before seen on Mars –- a dazzling display of yellow sulfur crystals.

This unexpected discovery was relayed to a team of astounded scientists, including Ashwin Vasavada, the Curiosity’s project scientist from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

“Finding a field of stones made of pure sulfur is like finding an oasis in the desert. It shouldn’t be there, so now we have to explain it. Discovering strange and unexpected things is what makes planetary exploration so exciting,” Vasavada enthused.

Sulphur surprise on Mars

Since October 2023, Curiosity has been rambling about in a sulfate-rich region of Mars. Now, sulfates aren’t exactly Martian novelties.

These salts, formed as water evaporates, had been detected before, but only as constituents of sulfur-based minerals — mixtures of sulfur and other stuff. But this time, it was pure, elemental sulfur, a first of its kind.

What’s so peculiar about this elemental sulfur? Well, contrary to the stinkiness associated with hydrogen sulfide gas, elemental sulfur is odorless.

Its formation requires specific conditions not previously linked to this Martian location. Hence, the revelation of an entire field of bright, sulfur-laden rocks is indeed something to marvel at.

Sulfur as a signal for life on Mars

Elemental sulfur and sulfur-containing compounds can form through various biological and non-biological processes.

On Earth, these formations often indicate biological activity, with microorganisms leaving behind sulfur compounds as they metabolize.

Sulfur, an element rich in geological history, provides clues about Mars’s past interactions with water. This is significant because water is a key ingredient for life.

Sulfur compounds also reveal information about Mars’s potential hydrothermal systems, volcanic activities, or ancient lakes and seas — habitats that might have supported life.

They are involved in chemical reactions that produce energy, a survival mechanism for some Earth microbes in extreme environments like deep-sea hydrothermal vents.

The identification of sulfur on Mars raises questions about the planet’s historical habitability. It suggests a range of chemical environments that could have supported microbial life.

While sulfur alone doesn’t confirm the existence of life, its presence alongside other life-sustaining elements like carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and phosphorus strengthens the case for past life on Mars.

Scaling Mount Sharp

For over seven years, Curiosity has been ardently climbing Mount Sharp. This Martian behemoth, towering three miles into the red Martian sky, is like a history textbook, with each layer representing a different era of Martian history.

The rover’s objective? To study these layers to understand when and where Mars might have had the conditions necessary to support microbial life.

A particular area of interest has been the Gediz Vallis channel, a groove winding down part of Mount Sharp like a gargantuan amusement park slide.

Scientists believe this channel was forged by liquid water and debris flows, making it an exciting place for the rover to study.

Mars’ Gediz Vallis and sulfur crystals

Since Curiosity’s arrival at Gediz Vallis, it has been investigating the big question – whether ancient rush of water or cascading landslides created the large mounds of debris on the channel floor.

Findings suggest that both factors had a hand in the formation of these Martian landscapes.

Commenting on this was Becky Williams, a scientist with the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona, and deputy principal investigator of Curiosity’s Mast Camera.

“This was not a quiet period on Mars. There was an exciting amount of activity here. We’re looking at multiple flows down the channel, including energetic floods and boulder-rich flows,” she explained.

Drilling for more sulfur clues on Mars

Curiosity’s adventures haven’t just been about sightseeing. On June 18, this high-tech explorer took to drilling, boring its 41st hole in a rock nick-named the “Mammoth Lakes” near the sulfur field.

Powderized samples are now being closely examined to determine their composition, promising more insights into Mars’s puzzling geological history.

The journey so far has been an adventurous one, with unexpected discoveries and valuable scientific data turning up at every corner. The team eagerly awaits what other surprises lay within the channel.

Each new finding brings us a step closer to understanding the Martian history and whether the planet once harbored conditions favorable for life.

Future of Mars exploration

The discovery of elemental sulfur on Mars enhances our understanding of our neighboring planet while stoking our curiosity about what else lies out there in the cosmos. These missions reaffirm the relentless human spirit of exploration and the pursuit of knowledge.

With each new step the rover takes, we learn more about the Red Planet. The quest to answer the age-old question, ‘was there ever life on Mars?’ continues to fuel our explorations into the unknown.

Video Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

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