Nasa's Curiosity Rover unveils 'magical' pure sulphur on Mars

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (Nasa) curiosity rover drove over some stones in May and explored a magical yellow sulphur crystal after cracking one of the stones. 

The administration has made a number of discoveries on Mars, but this was first for the red planet.

Curiosity's project scientist, Ashwin Vasavada of Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, described the new discovery as finding an oasis in the desert. He considers such innovation exciting.

"Finding a field of stones made of pure sulphur is like finding an oasis in the desert," Ashwin said.

“It shouldn’t be there, so now we have to explain it. Discovering strange and unexpected things is what makes planetary exploration so exciting," he added.

Additionally, this magical discovery was in an area rich in sulphates and has been explored by Curiosity since October 2023.

This chemical element comprises sulphur and forms after the water evaporates. Previously, sulphur was discovered as sulphur-based minerals; however, the rock that Curiosity crushed contains elemental, or pure, sulphur. There are several more of them spread all over the area.

Moreover, the sulphur found in the rock is odourless; nonetheless, usually this element has an odour of rotten eggs, which is caused by hydrogen sulphide gas.