Open in App
  • U.S.
  • Election
  • Newsletter
  • New York Post

    NASA’s Curiosity rover makes ‘mind-blowing’ discovery on Mars

    By Patrick Reilly,

    5 hours ago

    https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2vsrWi_0uY2we7q00

    Someone alert Elon Musk.

    NASA’s Curiosity rover made a “mind-blowing” discovery on Mars — yellowish-green crystals of pure sulfur, never before seen on Earth’s mysterious red neighbor, according to scientists.

    The literal ground-breaking find was made after the one-ton Curiosity drove over a pile of rocks and cracked one open while probing the deep and winding Gediz Vallis channel, believed to have been formed by water 3 billion years ago.

    “I think it’s the strangest find of the whole mission and the most unexpected,” Ashwin Vasavada, Curiosity project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory [JPL] in Pasadena, California, told CNN . “I have to say, there’s a lot of luck involved here. Not every rock has something interesting inside.”

    The rover’s operators spotted white stones in the distance and mission scientists wanted to investigate further. On May 30, Vasavada and his team reviewed images from the rover that showed a crushed rock in the wheel’s tracks.

    Scientists investigate mysterious giant scar stretching across Mars — they are baffled how it even got there

    https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3qebIt_0uY2we7q00
    The rock was broken open when Curiosity ran it over. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS / SWNS
    https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1ul8Wr_0uY2we7q00
    Curiosity has been roaming Mars since 2012. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS / SWNS

    What they saw when they zoomed in was “mind-blowing,” he said, as they viewed the  “gorgeous texture and color inside” of what had initially appeared to be a typical Martian rock.

    Your July horoscope — learn how to sharpen your claws during the season of the crab

    They were even more shocked when analysis proved it was completely sulfur.

    “No one had pure sulfur on their bingo card,” Vasavada said.

    Sulfur rocks are usually “beautiful, translucent and crystalline,” according to Vasadava — but the millions of years of weathering sandblasted the rocks’ exterior, blending them with the rest of the orange Martian landscape.

    https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0kVHI1_0uY2we7q00
    Curiosity snapped a photo of a rock nicknamed ‘Snow Lake’ in June, which is similar to the rock the rover smashed. ZUMAPRESS.com

    CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR MORNING REPORT NEWSLETTER

    https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0ahAYl_0uY2we7q00
    The discovery was made while probing the Gediz Vallis channel. ZUMAPRESS.com

    Curiosity had previously discovered a number of sulfates, or salts that contain sulfur that are formed when water evaporates. Pure sulfur only forms on Earth under extreme conditions, such as volcanic processes or in hot springs, CNN reported.

    The Gediz Vallis channel is dug out on the sides of the 3-mile-tall Mount Sharp, which the rover has been steadily climbing for 10 years, according to CNN.

    Scientists are now probing what the presence of pure sulfur means for Mars and its cosmic history.

    The discovery could give SpaceX CEO Musk even more inspiration to reach his goal of colonizing the red planet in the future.

    For top headlines, breaking news and more, visit nypost.com.

    Expand All
    Comments / 0
    Add a Comment
    YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
    Most Popular newsMost Popular

    Comments / 0