By: Elaine Li

NASA’s rover, Curiosity, has made a big discovery. When driving around Mars it ran over a rock and cracked it open revealing yellow- green crystals made of sulfur. It was also completely accidental.

What makes it strange is that the crystals shouldn’t be there. Curiosity’s project scientist Ashwin Vasavada said, “Discovering strange and unexpected things is what makes planetary exploration so exciting,”.

The rover had been exploring a place where scientists know that there is sulfate, a type of salt that forms when sulfur mixes with the minerals in water. The rover has been there ever since October 2023. It found the crystals while climbing Mt. Sharp, a three-mile-tall mountain it has been climbing since 2014.

Curiosity landed on Mars on August 6, 2012, and it has been exploring the planet ever since. It has made many discoveries and took the first selfie on Mars. It also is the second to latest rover launched to Mars.

The rover’s mission is to search for evidence of life on Mars, and study the planet, then the rover beams the information it gathered back to Earth. It can also take pictures and collect samples for NASA.

Curiosity is one of the 5 rovers NASA has sent to Mars. The other ones are Sojourner, Spirit, Opportunity, and Perseverance. Currently only Curiosity and Perseverance are still on Mars.

Curiosity’s lifespan is 15 years, so it still has 3 more years on Mars to make more mysterious discoveries on the Red Planet.

Image Credit by Alan Wang