Mars rover uncovers unexpected sulfur oasis on the Red Planet

This is the first instance of finding sulfur on the Red Planet in its pure, elemental form. Although scientists previously suspected that the surface of Mars was dotted with sulfuric rocks, there was a lack of direct evidence.

"Finding a field of stones made of pure sulfur is like finding an oasis in the desert," said Ashwin Vasavada, a Curiosity project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, as quoted by sciencealert.com this past summer.

And how are these mentioned sulfates formed? They are salts that form when sulfur, usually in the form of compounds, mixes with other minerals in water. When the water evaporates, the minerals mix and dry up, leaving sulfates in their place.

It is worth noting that sulfur is an essential element for all life. It is usually absorbed as sulfates and used to produce two essential amino acids that living organisms need to make proteins.

However, what surprised scientists the most was that pure sulfur forms only under very narrow conditions, which are hard to find on the part of Mars where the Curiosity rover made the discovery.

Scientists agree that if not for the rover's unexpected change of course and its crash involving the ill-fated rock, it would have taken them a long time to find sources of pure sulfur on Mars.

Now, researchers will focus on determining how sulfur could have ended up on Mars, considering our knowledge of the planet.