Curiosity may find traces of acidic water on Mars

The Curiosity explorer may have recently found traces of acidic water on Mars. The rover made the discovery after using a new drilling technique to collect soil samples, NASA reports.

The Curiosity collected the sample from Mount Sharp, where the probe arrived five months ago. There he drilled into a rock called Mojava 2. An initial check indicates that the rock contains demonstrably more jarosite than elsewhere. Jarosite is a mineral that contains iron and sulfate and is formed in acidic environments.

NASA says that the analysis is still in progress and that the final results are yet to be released. Meanwhile, the researchers are wondering how the jarosite got into the ground. This may have happened when sediments were deposited. Another possibility is that a liquid, possibly water, overflowed the surface. This needs further investigation.

It was the first time that Curiosity drilled into the ground with a new technique, which uses less energy and thus causes less damage to the rock. The intention is that more soil samples will follow as the rover moves further up Mount Sharp. Curiosity analyzes the powders from the rocks with an on-board measuring instrument.

Curiosity landed on Mars in 2012 and its mission is, among other things, to discover whether life was ever possible on the red planet. In addition, the Mars rover needs to make measurements in preparation for a mission to Mars with humans; it must take place sometime in the next thirty years.

Late last year, Curiosity found a few more clues that life on Mars may have been possible in the distant past. The device found organic molecules containing the building blocks for life. NASA did mention that the molecules could point to life, but that they could also exist without life on Mars.