00:00right now nasa's curiosity rover is still rolling around the martian surface providing invaluable
00:08data about the red planet and recently it accidentally broke open a rock while rolling
00:12over it revealing a wild surprise no it wasn't the fossilized remains of an alien creature
00:18unfortunately but it was this crystals of elemental sulfur that might not seem like a big discovery
00:24considering sulfates have been found on mars before however experts say they have never seen
00:29sulfur in its purest form like this nasa jet propulsion lab scientist ashwin vasavada said
00:34about it finding a field of stones made of pure sulfur is like finding an oasis in the desert
00:40adding that it shouldn't be there so now we have to explain it so what could this tell us well
00:44crystals like this form when sulfates mix with water which eventually evaporates this leaves behind pure
00:50sulfur but it can tell us more about the water history on mars something of extreme interest to
00:55planetologists the rock that contained it broke as curiosity rolled over it not surprising
01:00considering the rover weighs some one thousand nine hundred and eighty two pounds
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