NASA made a sensational discovery: sulphur crystals on the Red Planet (video)

NASA scientists claim to have found pure sulphur on Mars for the first time after the Curiosity rover accidentally discovered a cluster of yellow crystals when it drove over a rock. The area seems to be filled with these crystals.

Here's What We Know

This unexpected discovery surprised scientists, because earlier minerals containing sulphur had been observed on the Red Planet, but elemental sulphur had never been seen.

Curiosity discovered the rock on 30 May while travelling in a region known as the Gediz Valles Canal, where similar rocks could be seen everywhere. The channel is believed to have been carved by water and debris flows long ago.

After spotting the yellow crystals, the team subsequently used the camera on Curiosity to take a closer look. The rover then took a sample from another rock nearby, as the pieces of rock it broke up were too fragile to drill. Curiosity is equipped with instruments that can analyse the composition of rocks and soil, and NASA says the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) confirmed the presence of elemental sulfur.

Source: NASA