1. Home
  2. Astronomy & Space
  3. Astrobiology

November 18, 2024

Editors' notes

This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

fact-checked

trusted source

proofread

Mars Curiosity rover takes a last look at mysterious sulfur

by NASA

NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover Takes a Last Look at Mysterious Sulfur
NASA’s Curiosity captured this panorama using its Mastcam while heading west away from Gediz Vallis channel on Nov. 2, 2024, the 4,352nd Martian day, or sol, of the mission. The Mars rover’s tracks across the rocky terrain are visible at right. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

NASA's Curiosity rover is preparing for the next leg of its journey, a months-long trek to a formation called the boxwork, a set of weblike patterns on Mars's surface that stretches for miles. It will soon leave behind Gediz Vallis channel, an area wrapped in mystery. How the channel formed so late during a transition to a drier climate is one big question for the science team. Another mystery is the field of white sulfur stones the rover discovered over the summer.

Curiosity imaged the stones, along with features from inside the channel, in a 360-degree panorama before driving up to the western edge of the channel at the end of September.

The rover is searching for evidence that ancient Mars had the right ingredients to support , if any formed billions of years ago, when the Red Planet held lakes and rivers. Located in the foothills of Mount Sharp, a 3-mile-tall (5-kilometer-tall) mountain, Gediz Vallis channel may help tell a related story: what the area was like as water was disappearing on Mars. Although older layers on the mountain had already formed in a dry climate, the channel suggests that water occasionally coursed through the area as the climate was changing.

Use your mouse to explore this 360-degree view of Gediz Vallis channel, a region of Mars that NASA’s Curiosity rover surveyed before heading west to new adventures. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Scientists are still piecing together the processes that formed various features within the channel, including the debris mound nicknamed "Pinnacle Ridge," visible in the new 360-degree panorama. It appears that rivers, wet debris flows, and dry avalanches all left their mark. The science team is now constructing a timeline of events from Curiosity's observations.

The science team is also trying to answer some big questions about the sprawling field of sulfur stones. Images of the area from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) showed what looked like an unremarkable patch of light-colored terrain. It turns out that the sulfur stones were too small for MRO's High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) to see, and Curiosity's team was intrigued to find them when the rover reached the patch. They were even more surprised after Curiosity rolled over one of the stones, crushing it to reveal yellow crystals inside.

Science instruments on the rover confirmed the stone was pure sulfur—something no mission has seen before on Mars. The team doesn't have a ready explanation for why the sulfur formed there; on Earth, it's associated with volcanoes and , and no evidence exists on Mount Sharp pointing to either of those causes.

NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover Takes a Last Look at Mysterious Sulfur
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover captured this last look at a field of bright white sulfur stones on Oct. 11, before leaving Gediz Vallis channel. The field was where the rover made the first discovery of pure sulfur on Mars. Scientists are still unsure exactly why theses rocks formed here. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

"We looked at the sulfur field from every angle—from the top and the side—and looked for anything mixed with the that might give us clues as to how it formed. We've gathered a ton of data, and now we have a fun puzzle to solve," said Curiosity's project scientist Ashwin Vasavada at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

Spiderwebs on Mars

Curiosity, which has traveled about 20 miles (33 kilometers) since landing in 2012, is now driving along the western edge of Gediz Vallis channel, gathering a few more panoramas to document the region before making tracks to the boxwork.

Viewed by MRO, the boxwork looks like spiderwebs stretching across the surface. It's believed to have formed when minerals carried by Mount Sharp's last pulses of water settled into fractures in surface rock and then hardened. As portions of the rock eroded away, what remained were the minerals that had cemented themselves in the fractures, leaving the weblike boxwork.

NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover Takes a Last Look at Mysterious Sulfur
This weblike crystalline structure called boxwork is found in the ceiling of the Elk’s Room, part of Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota. NASA’s Curiosity rover is preparing for a journey to a boxwork formation that stretches for miles on Mars’ surface. Credit: NPS Photo/Kim Acker
NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover Takes a Last Look at Mysterious Sulfur
Scientists think that ancient groundwater formed this weblike pattern of ridges, called boxwork, that were captured by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on Dec. 10, 2006. The agency’s Curiosity rover will study ridges similar to these up close in 2025. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

On Earth, boxwork formations have been seen on cliffsides and in caves. But Mount Sharp's boxwork structures stand apart from those both because they formed as water was disappearing from Mars and because they're so extensive, spanning an area of 6 to 12 miles (10 to 20 kilometers).

"These ridges will include minerals that crystallized underground, where it would have been warmer, with salty liquid water flowing through," said Kirsten Siebach of Rice University in Houston, a Curiosity scientist studying the region. "Early Earth microbes could have survived in a similar environment. That makes this an exciting place to explore."

Provided by NASA

Citation: Mars Curiosity rover takes a last look at mysterious sulfur (2024, November 18) retrieved 18 November 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2024-11-mars-curiosity-rover-mysterious-sulfur.htmlThis document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

Explore further

Curiosity rover searches for new clues about Mars' ancient water

0 shares

Feedback to editors

Largest and hairiest of its kind: New feather-duster-legged tarantula discovered in western Cuba

2 hours ago

0

Human brain organelles study shows dopamine neurons must work a lot harder than those in primate relatives

4 hours ago

0

Relevant PhysicsForums posts

Predicting frequency of Earthlike planets and systems

Nov 10, 2024

Load comments (0)

Let us know if there is a problem with our content

Use this form if you have come across a typo, inaccuracy or would like to send an edit request for the content on this page. For general inquiries, please use our contact form. For general feedback, use the public comments section below (please adhere to guidelines).

Please select the most appropriate category to facilitate processing of your request

-- please select one --Compliments / CritiqueTypos / Errors / InaccuraciesEdit / Removal requestYour message to the editorsYour email (only if you want to be contacted back)Send Feedback

Thank you for taking time to provide your feedback to the editors.

Your feedback is important to us. However, we do not guarantee individual replies due to the high volume of messages.

E-mail the story
Mars Curiosity rover takes a last look at mysterious sulfur

Your friend's emailYour emailI would like to subscribe to Science X Newsletter. Learn moreYour name

Note

Your email address is used only to let the recipient know who sent the email. Neither your address nor the recipient's address will be used for any other purpose. The information you enter will appear in your e-mail message and is not retained by Phys.org in any form.

Your messageSend

Newsletter sign up

Get weekly and/or daily updates delivered to your inbox. You can unsubscribe at any time and we'll never share your details to third parties.

Subscribe

More information Privacy policy

We keep our content available to everyone. Consider supporting Science X's mission by getting a premium account.

Remove adsMaybe later

Newsletters

SubscribeScience X Daily and the Weekly Email Newsletter are free features that allow you to receive your favorite sci-tech news updates in your email inbox

Follow us

© Phys.org 2003 - 2024 powered by Science X NetworkPrivacy policy Terms of use

E-mail newsletter

Subscribe

Follow us

Quantcast
The link has been copied!