Sulfur stones and spiderwebs: Curiosity's latest discoveries on Mars

Curiosity, the renowned Mars rover from NASA, is enriching our understanding of the Red Planet’s mysterious landscapes and puzzling geological features.

Around the corner awaits a new expedition for Curiosity, this time to investigate a formation known as a boxwork. This intriguing network of patterns lies in a region at the foot of Mount Sharp and promises even more fascinating discoveries.

Curiosity finds yellow sulfur stones

Before embarking on this new quest, Curiosity bids farewell to Gediz Vallis, a channel that is shrouded in enigma.

Details of the formation of this channel during a period of transition to a drier climate continue to elude scientists.

But it is not just the channel that piques their interest. Curiosity stumbled upon a strange field of yellow sulfur stones during the summer, literally crushing them with its wheels as it drove along. This adds another layer of mystery to the Martian puzzle.

Before moving out, Curiosity provided scientists with invaluable imagery. The rover captured 360-degree panoramas of the stones, along with channel features, making sure no detail was overlooked.

The quest for ancient life

A fundamental purpose of the rover’s mission is probing Mars’ past, with the hope of finding traces of ancient life.

Billions of years ago, Mars was flush with lakes and rivers, potentially creating conditions conducive to microbial life.

Nestled in the foothills of Mount Sharp, which is a towering mountain, Gediz Vallis might hold the key to understanding how Mars looked as water dwindled on its surface.

Scientists aren’t just interested in understanding the climate shift. The team is also investigating different features within the channel, including a debris mound aptly nicknamed “Pinnacle Ridge.”

Evidence suggests that rivers, wet debris flows, and dry avalanches have all left their signatures on this formation.

Intriguingly, the process of constructing a timeline of these events is well underway.

Sulfur stones: The latest Martian mystery

The sprawling field of sulfur stones, originally appearing as an unremarkable patch of light-colored terrain in images from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, has sprung a pleasant surprise.

A close inspection by Curiosity revealed that these sulfur stones were teeming with yellow crystals, a find unlike anything seen on Mars before.

The rover’s instruments confirmed that the stones were pure sulfur – an unusual occurrence that raises more questions than it answers.

On our home planet, sulfur is usually linked with the presence of volcanoes and hot springs. Yet, no evidence on Mount Sharp suggests these phenomena as likely candidates.

Ashwin Vasavada is a Curiosity project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

“We looked at the sulfur field from every angle – from the top and the side – and looked for anything mixed with the sulfur 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 Vasavada.

Treading on Martian “spiderwebs”

Having completed a thorough survey of the Gediz Vallis, Curiosity is all set to traverse the edge of the channel, capturing a few more panoramas before making its way to the boxwork region.

This formation of ridges, likened to spiderwebs sprawling across the surface, is believed to be linked to minerals settling into rock crevices and hardening over time. They have been left behind as the surrounding rock eroded.

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

The curious legacy of Curiosity

Curiosity, a brainchild of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory managed by Caltech, continues to be a cornerstone of Martian exploration for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project, under the management of the University of Arizona, and its High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) instrument, constructed by BAE Systems, also play significant roles in taking our understanding of Mars to new heights.

Video Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

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