By: Ethan Ding
NASA’s Curiosity rover, which was created with lots of cool technology that seems to have paid off since Curiosity made lots of discoveries since it landed on Mars in 2012. Still, the latest has stunned scientists in a big way!
Curiosity found some greenish-yellow crystals made of pure sulfur while exploring the Gediz Vallis. When it drove over a rock by accident and then cracked it open – which then revealed the beautiful crystals.
“The accidental find, which was caused by the heft of the car-sized, one-ton rover on the morning of May 30, came as a pleasant surprise to researchers. In addition to the crystals that Curiosity drove over, the rover identified a plain with similar rocks dotting the surrounding ground.”
The rover found the crystals while navigating through Mount Sharp, a three-mile tall Mountain it has been on since 2014.
“Finding a field of stones made of pure sulfur is like finding an oasis in the desert,” said Ashwin Vasavada, Curiosity’s project scientist. “It shouldn’t be there, so now we have to explain it. Discovering strange and unexpected things is what makes planetary exploration so exciting.”
Curiosity was the first to ever discover pure sulfur on Mars, and to think that it was found by just accidentally driving over a rock.
“I think it’s the strangest find of the whole mission and the most unexpected,” said Ashwin Vasavada, Curiosity project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. “I have to say, there’s a lot of luck involved here. Not every rock has something interesting inside.”
Curiosity has been built with lots of technology, which includes 17 cameras, a laser to vaporize and study small pinpoint spots of rocks at a distance, and a drill to collect powdered rock samples.
*Accuweather
https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/accidentally-exposed-yellowish-green-crystals-reveal-mind-blowing-finding-on-mars-scientists-say/1671292
*Smithsonian magazine
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/nasas-curiosity-rover-accidentally-discovers-sulfur-crystals-on-mars-180984748/