NASA Stunned By New Discovery Inside Rock On Mars, Says “It Shouldn’t Be There”

A New Mystery

Space is an infinite expanse, likely full of things we haven't even conceived of yet, let alone discovered. We like to think we have a good profile of the areas of space closest to us, namely our neighboring planets. Despite the fact that we've been studying Mars, for example, for decades now, researchers are still making new discoveries about it, including a shocking one that was found recently.

This discovery came from a simple, seemingly inconsequential action. Curiosity drove over a rock.

Cracking Things Open

Curiosity is NASA's current Mars rover. It's roughly the size of a car, and it spends its days driving across the surface of our red neighbor, recording everything it sees and sending images back to Earth for scientists to study.

During one of its usual patrols earlier this year, Curiosity drove over a rock that immediately broke under its weight (not unusual given that Curiosity weighs almost 2,000 pounds in Earth's gravity and roughly 750 pounds in Mars' gravity). What was inside that rock, however, stunned NASA's team. It was pure sulfur.

First Of Its Kind

Now, the area of Mars that Curiosity had been exploring is known for being rich with sulfates, which is a type of salt that contains sulfur which forms as water evaporates. However, it had only recorded sulfur-based materials, which means the sulfur was mixed with other minerals. This was the first time that pure sulfur had ever been seen on Mars.

As one NASA spokesperson noted, "It forms in only a narrow range of conditions that scientists haven't associated with the history of this location. And Curiosity found a lot of it — an entire field of bright rocks that look similar to the one the rover crushed."

Shocking For All

"Finding a field of stones made of pure sulfur is like finding an oasis in the desert," said Ashwin Vasavada, Curiosity's project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “It shouldn’t be there, so now we have to explain it."

Thankfully, needing to explain it is exciting for a group of scientists such as this; they welcome the challenge and the reason to dig further into their already incredible research.

"Discovering strange and unexpected things is what makes planetary exploration so exciting.”

Smelling Fresh

Sulfur on Earth is known most for its scent, usually being compared to the smell of rotten eggs. Sulfur is also the element that causes a skunk's defensive spray to smell the way it does.

Those scents occur because of the different compounds sulfur is a part of in relation to both of these mercaptans for the skunks and hydrogen sulfide for the rotten eggs. Pure sulfur, like the crystals found on Mars, has no smell on its own, so no, Mars isn't some exceptionally stinky planet either.

The Universe's Secrets

Though to some, this may feel like a relatively small discovery, it means the world to the scientists and researchers involved in the continued study of Mars' makeup. So much has already been discovered since Curiosity's deployment, from these pure sulfur rocks to channels carved by ancient, now-vanished rivers, and there's still more to come!

Many of the finds, on Mars or elsewhere in space, have yet to have their origins uncovered, but that's part of the beauty of this kind of research. There are incredible natural mysteries both on and surrounding our planet, with people who are dedicated to solving them already on the cast. Isn't that just amazing?