Curiosity Views Rock Made of Sulfur at ‘Snow Lake’

NASA’s Curiosity captured this close-up image of a rock nicknamed “Snow Lake” on June 8, 2024, the 4,209th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Nine days earlier, the rover had crushed a similar-looking rock and revealed crystalline textures — and elemental sulfur — inside.
NASA’s Curiosity captured this close-up image of a rock nicknamed “Snow Lake” on June 8, 2024, the 4,209th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Nine days earlier, the rover had crushed a similar-looking rock and revealed crystalline textures — and elemental sulfur — inside.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
July 19, 2024
CreditNASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Historical DateJuly 18, 2024
PIA NumberPIA26308
Language
  • english

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover captured this close-up image of a rock nicknamed “Snow Lake” on June 8, 2024, the 4,209th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. The image was captured by Curiosity’s Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), a camera on the end of the rover’s robotic arm.

Nine days before this image was captured, Curiosity crushed a similar-looking rock and revealed crystalline textures inside. Curiosity’s Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) found that the rock was made of elemental sulfur. An entire field of similar-looking rocks were found in this area; all are expected to have sulfur inside them.

Curiosity was built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California. JPL leads the mission on behalf of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. MAHLI was built by Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego.

For more about Curiosity, visit: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/msl-curiosity/.

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