NASA's Curiosity rover accidentally discovers unknown crystals on Mars

Surprising discoveries often happen by chance. This was the case when NASA's Curiosity rover inadvertently crushed a rock on Mars, revealing an abundance of never-before-seen crystals. The sparkling yellow fragments within the rock captured the scientists' interest, marking a new milestone in Martian exploration.


On May 30, while Curiosity was exploring Gediz Vallis Channel on the slopes of Mount Sharp within Gale Crater, it rolled over a small rock, fracturing it. The rover's cameras then revealed bright yellow crystals inside this rock. These crystals, too small and delicate to be handled by the rover, disclosed their composition: pure sulfur.

Sulfur had previously been detected on Mars, but only in the form of compounds known as sulfates. The discovery of elemental sulfur is a first. Scientists had suspected its presence, but finding it on the surface was unexpected.

Ashwin Vasavada, a scientist for the Curiosity mission at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, emphasized the importance of this accidental discovery, calling it what makes planetary exploration so “exciting.” Photos of the surrounding area show that the ground is scattered with similar geodes, suggesting a widespread presence of pure sulfur in this region.

Although the presence of yellow crystals has not been confirmed in other rocks, scientists are confident that neighboring rocks also contain sulfur. This area has thus become a major site of interest for future research.

Since its arrival in 2012, Curiosity has made several discoveries in and around Gediz Vallis. In February, it photographed "waves" sculpted by an ancient Martian lake, and in May, it discovered rocks containing manganese oxide, indicating that Mars once had an oxygen-rich atmosphere similar to that of Earth.