{"id":129638,"date":"2024-11-24T19:29:49","date_gmt":"2024-11-24T12:29:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=129638"},"modified":"2024-11-24T19:29:49","modified_gmt":"2024-11-24T12:29:49","slug":"curiosity-cracked-open-a-rock-on-mars-and-found-a-big-surprise-sciencealert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=129638","title":{"rendered":"Curiosity Cracked Open a Rock on Mars And Found a Big Surprise : ScienceAlert"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>A rock on  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/mars\" class=\"lar_link lar_link_outgoing\" data-linkid=\"73083\" data-postid=\"144484\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_self\">Mars<\/a> spilled a surprising yellow treasure after Curiosity accidentally cracked through its unremarkable exterior.<\/p>\n<p>When the rover rolled its 899-kilogram (1,982-pound) body over the rock back in May, the rock broke open, revealing yellow crystals of elemental sulfur: brimstone.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>Although sulfates are fairly common on Mars, this represents the first time sulfur has been found on the red planet in its pure elemental form.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>What&#8217;s even more exciting is that the Gediz Vallis Channel, where Curiosity found the rock, is littered with rocks that look suspiciously similar to the sulfur rock before it got fortuitously crushed \u2013 suggesting that, somehow, elemental sulfur may be abundant there in some places.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_144488\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-144488\" style=\"width: 642px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/gediz_valley_mars.jpg\" alt=\"Gediz Vallis Mars\" width=\"642\" height=\"396\" class=\"wp-image-144488 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/gediz_valley_mars.jpg 642w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/gediz_valley_mars-600x370.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 642px) 100vw, 642px\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-144488\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gediz Vallis channel beyond the ridge, with surrounding sulfate-bearing unit. (<a href=\"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/resource\/curiositys-path-to-gediz-vallis-ridge-and-beyond\/\">NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/ESA\/University of Arizona\/JHUAPL\/MSSS\/USGS Astrogeology Science Center<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&#8220;Finding a field of stones made of pure sulfur is like finding an oasis in the desert,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpl.nasa.gov\/news\/nasas-curiosity-rover-discovers-a-surprise-in-a-martian-rock\">said Curiosity project scientist Ashwin Vasavada<\/a> of NASA&#8217;s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in July.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It shouldn&#8217;t be there, so now we have to explain it. Discovering strange and unexpected things is what makes planetary exploration so exciting.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_133073\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-133073\" style=\"width: 642px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/07\/sulfur-mars-body.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"642\" height=\"574\" class=\"size-full wp-image-133073\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/07\/sulfur-mars-body.jpg 642w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/07\/sulfur-mars-body-464x415.jpg 464w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/07\/sulfur-mars-body-600x536.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 642px) 100vw, 642px\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-133073\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The sulfur Curiosity found on Mars. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpl.nasa.gov\/news\/nasas-curiosity-rover-discovers-a-surprise-in-a-martian-rock\">NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/MSSS<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Sulfates are salts that form when <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sulfur\">sulfur<\/a>, usually in <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sulfur_compounds\">compound form<\/a>, mixes with other minerals in water.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>When the water evaporates, the minerals mix and dry out, leaving the sulfates behind.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>These sulfate minerals can tell us a lot about Mars, such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nature02973\">its water history<\/a>, and how it has weathered over time.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_144493\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-144493\" style=\"width: 642px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/gediz_valley_channel.jpg\" alt=\"Curiosity 3D view of Gediz Valley channel\" width=\"642\" height=\"396\" class=\"wp-image-144493 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/gediz_valley_channel.jpg 642w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/gediz_valley_channel-600x370.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 642px) 100vw, 642px\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-144493\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Curiosity&#8217;s view of the Gediz Valley channel. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpl.nasa.gov\/images\/pia26410-curiositys-view-within-gediz-vallis-channel\/\">NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/MSSS<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Pure sulfur, on the other hand, only forms under a very narrow set of conditions, which are not known to have occurred in the region of Mars where Curiosity made its discovery.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>There are, to be fair, a lot of things we don&#8217;t know about the geological history of Mars, but the discovery of scads of pure sulfur just hanging about on the Martian surface suggests that there&#8217;s something pretty big that we&#8217;re not aware of.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_133074\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-133074\" style=\"width: 642px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/07\/snow-lake.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"642\" height=\"478\" class=\"size-full wp-image-133074\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/07\/snow-lake.jpg 642w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/07\/snow-lake-557x415.jpg 557w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/07\/snow-lake-600x447.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 642px) 100vw, 642px\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-133074\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A rock very similar to the one broken by Curiosity, photographed nine days after the sulfur discovery. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpl.nasa.gov\/news\/nasas-curiosity-rover-discovers-a-surprise-in-a-martian-rock\">NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/MSSS<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Sulfur, it&#8217;s important to understand, is an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rsc.org\/periodic-table\/element\/16\/sulfur\">essential element for all life<\/a>. It&#8217;s usually taken up in the form of sulfates, and used to make two of the essential amino acids living organisms need to make proteins.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>Since we&#8217;ve known about sulfates on Mars for some time, the discovery doesn&#8217;t tell us anything new in that area. We&#8217;re yet to find any signs of life on Mars, anyway.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>But we do keep stumbling across the remains of bits and pieces that living organisms would find useful, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/chemistry-discovery-on-mars-hints-at-the-origins-of-life-on-earth\">chemistry<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/mars-once-had-so-much-water-it-could-have-been-an-ocean-world-scientists-say\">water<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/curiosity-detects-habitable-earth-like-past-on-mars-but-how-did-oxygen-get-there\">past habitable conditions<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_144491\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-144491\" style=\"width: 642px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/curiosity_path_gedis_valley.jpg\" alt=\"Curiosity path to Gediz vallis\" width=\"642\" height=\"396\" class=\"wp-image-144491 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/curiosity_path_gedis_valley.jpg 642w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/curiosity_path_gedis_valley-600x370.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 642px) 100vw, 642px\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-144491\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Curiosity&#8217;s path (in yellow) towards Gediz Vallis channel (top-center). (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpl.nasa.gov\/images\/pia26241-curiositys-route-to-gediz-vallis-channel-rendering\/\">NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/UC Berkeley<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Stuck here on Earth, we&#8217;re fairly limited in how we can access Mars. Curiosity&#8217;s instruments were able to analyze and identify the sulfurous rocks in the Gediz Vallis Channel, but if it hadn&#8217;t taken a route that rolled over and cracked one open, <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">it could have been sometime until we found the sulfur<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>The next step will be to figure out exactly how, based on what we know about Mars, that sulfur may have come to be there.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s going to take a bit more work, possibly involving some detailed modeling of Mars&#8217;s geological evolution.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Curiosity Rover Explores Gediz Vallis Channel (360 View)\" width=\"1170\" height=\"658\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1cqc_Cr_prc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe> frameborder=&#8221;0\u2033 allow=&#8221;accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share&#8221; referrerpolicy=&#8221;strict-origin-when-cross-origin&#8221; allowfullscreen&gt;<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Curiosity will continue to collect data on the same.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>The Gediz Vallis channel is an area rich in Martian history, an ancient waterway whose rocks now bear the imprint of the ancient river that once flowed over them, billions of years ago.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>Curiosity drilled <a href=\"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/blogs\/sols-4236-4238-one-more-time-for-contact-science-at-mammoth-lakes\/\">a hole in one of the rocks<\/a>, taking a powdered sample of its interior for chemical analysis, and is still trundling its way deeper along the channel, to see what other surprises might be waiting just around the next rock.<\/p>\n<p><em>An earlier version of this article was published in July 2024.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1660802\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/curiosity-cracked-open-a-rock-on-mars-and-found-a-big-surprise\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A rock on Mars spilled a surprising yellow treasure after Curiosity accidentally cracked through its unremarkable exterior. When the rover rolled its 899-kilogram (1,982-pound) body over the rock back in &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=129638\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8628],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-129638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=129638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129638\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=129638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=129638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=129638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}