NASA's ‘mind-blowing’ accidental Mars discovery was ‘like finding an oasis in the desert’

NASA ’s Curiosity rover’s newest “mind-blowing” discovery on Mars has found yellowish-green crystals of pure sulfur, which have never been seen on the Red Planet. Scientists say the rover made the unprecedented discovery after driving over a pile of rocks and cracking one open during its probe of the Gediz Vallis channel. The unexpected unearthing has revealed a new existence that “shouldn’t be there,” making for the first of its kind finding in the past 30 years of the planet’s exploration.

Evidently, the discovery made by accident was like “finding an oasis in the desert,” Ashwin Vasavada, Curiosity ’s project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California . Moreover, it’s not like the rover only chanced upon a handful of these rocks made of pure sulfur; instead, an entire field has exposed the scientists to tons of them. “Discovering strange and unexpected things is what makes planetary exploration so exciting,” Vasavada added.

Also read | Did The Simpsons predict Kamala Harris would be US president? Stunning theories float @MarsCuriosity added the exciting happening to its online journal and posted online: "*Cronch* I ran over a rock and found crystals inside! It's pure sulfur. (And no, it doesn’t smell.) Elemental sulfur is something we’ve never seen before on Mars.

We don't know much about these yellow crystals yet, but my team is excited to investigate." Curiosity's official X/Twitter update left many wondering h.