Curiosity, the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover, landed on Mars in August 2012 to investigate the ~3.5-billion-year-old (Ga) fluvio-lacustrine sedimentary deposits of Aeolis Mons (informally known as Mount Sharp) and the surrounding plains (Aeolis Palus) in Gale crater. After nearly nine years, Curiosity has traversed over 25 km, and the Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) X-ray diffraction instrument on-board Curiosity has analyzed 30 drilled rock and three scooped soil samples to date. The principal strategic goal of the mission is to assess the habitability of Mars in its ancient past. Phyllosilicates are common in ancient Martian terrains dating to ~3.5–4 Ga and were detected from orbit in some of the lower strata of Mount Sharp. Phyllosilicates on Earth are important for harboring and preserving organics. On Mars, phyllosilicates are significant for exploration as they are hypothesized to be a marker for potential habitable environments. CheMin data demonstrate that ancient fluvio-lacustrine rocks in Gale crater contain up to ~35 wt. % phyllosilicates. Phyllosilicates are key indicators of past fluid–rock interactions, and variation in the structure and composition of phyllosilicates in Gale crater suggest changes in past aqueous environments that may have been habitable to microbial life with a variety of possible energy sources.

Vera Rubin ridge (VRR) is a topographic high within the layers of Mount Sharp, Gale crater, that exhibits a strong hematite spectral signature from orbit. The Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover carried out a comprehensive investigation to understand the depositional and diagenetic processes recorded in the rocks of VRR. Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) evolved gas analyses (EGA) were performed on three samples from the ridge and one from directly beneath the ridge. SAM evolved H₂O data suggested the presence of an Fe‐rich dioctahedral smectite, such as nontronite, in the sample from beneath the ridge. H₂O data are also consistent with ferripyrophyllite in VRR samples. SAM SO₂ data indicated that all samples contained Mg sulfates and some Fe sulfate. Several volatile detections suggested trace reduced sulfur sources, such as Fe sulfides and/or S‐bearing organic compounds, in two samples while significant O₂ and NO evolved from one sample indicated the presence of oxychlorine and nitrate/nitrite salts, respectively. The O₂ evolution was the second highest to date and the first observed in ~1,200 sols. HCl released from all samples likely resulted, in part, from trace chloride salts. All samples evolved CO₂ and CO consistent with oxidized carbon compounds (e.g., oxalates), while some CO₂ may result from carbonate. SAM‐derived constraints on the mineralogy and chemistry of VRR materials, in the context of additional mineralogy, geochemistry, and sedimentology information obtained by Curiosity, support a complex diagenetic history that involved fluids of a range of possible salinities, redox characteristics, pHs, and temperatures.

Oxygen and HCl gas releases detected by the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument on board the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover in several Gale Crater samples have been attributed to the thermal decomposition of perchlorates and/or chlorates. Previous experimental studies of perchlorates mixed with Fe‐bearing phases explained some but not all of the evolved oxygen releases and cannot explain the HCl releases. The objective of this paper was to evaluate the oxygen and HCl releases of chlorates and chlorate/Fe phase mixtures in experimental studies and SAM evolved gas analysis data sets. Potassium, magnesium, and sodium chlorate were independently mixed with hematite, magnetite, ferrihydrite, and palagonite and analyzed in a thermal evolved gas analyzer configured to operate similarly to the SAM instrument. Fe phases depressed the chlorate decomposition temperature 3–214 °C and consumed up to 75% of the evolved oxygen from chlorate decomposition. Chlorate/Fe phase mixtures have oxygen and HCl releases consistent with some samples analyzed by SAM. Reported oxychlorine abundances based on calculations using oxygen detected by SAM could be minimum values because Fe phases consume evolved oxygen. The results of this work demonstrate that chlorates could be present in the Martian soil and that oxygen and HCl release temperatures could be used to constrain which chlorate cation species are present in samples analyzed by SAM. Knowledge of which chlorates may be present in Gale Crater creates a better understanding of the detectability of organics by evolved gas analysis, habitability potential, and the chlorine cycle on Mars.

Molecular hydrogen (H₂) from volcanic emissions is suggested to warm the Martian surface when carbon dioxide (CO₂) levels dropped from the Noachian (4100 to 3700 Myr) to the Hesperian (3700 to 3000 Myr). Its presence is expected to shift the conversion of molecular nitrogen (N₂) into different forms of fixed nitrogen (N). Here we present experimental data and theoretical calculations that investigate the efficiency of nitrogen fixation by bolide impacts in CO₂‐N₂ atmospheres with or without H₂. Surprisingly, nitric oxide (NO) was produced more efficiently in 20% H₂ in spite of being a reducing agent and not likely to increase the rate of nitrogen oxidation. Nevertheless, its presence led to a faster cooling of the shock wave raising the freeze‐out temperature of NO resulting in an enhanced yield. We estimate that the nitrogen fixation rate by bolide impacts varied from 7 × 10⁻⁴ to 2 × 10⁻³ g N·Myr⁻¹·cm⁻² and could imply fluvial concentration to explain the nitrogen (1.4 ± 0.7 g N·Myr⁻¹·cm⁻²) detected as nitrite (NO₂⁻) and nitrate (NO₃⁻) by Curiosity at Yellowknife Bay. One possible explanation is that the nitrogen detected in the lacustrine sediments at Gale was deposited entirely on the crater's surface and was subsequently dissolved and transported by superficial and ground waters to the lake during favorable wet climatic conditions. The nitrogen content sharply decreases in younger sediments of the Murray formation suggesting a decline of H₂ in the atmosphere and the rise of oxidizing conditions causing a shortage in the supply to putative microbial life.

The Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument on the Curiosity rover has detected evidence of oxychlorine compounds (i.e., perchlorates and chlorates) in Gale crater, which has implications for past habitability, diagenesis, aqueous processes, interpretation of in situ organic analyses, understanding the martian chlorine cycle, and hazards and resources for future human exploration. Pure oxychlorines and mixtures of oxychlorines with Mars-analog phases have been analyzed for their oxygen (O₂) and hydrogen chloride (HCl) releases on SAM laboratory analog instruments in order to constrain which phases are present in Gale crater. These studies demonstrated that oxychlorines evolve O₂ releases with peaks between ~200 and 600 °C, although the thermal decomposition temperatures and the amount of evolved O₂ decrease when iron phases are present in the sample. Mg and Fe oxychlorines decompose into oxides and release HCl between ~200 and 542 °C. Ca, Na, and K oxychlorines thermally decompose into chlorides and do not evolve HCl by themselves. However, the chlorides (original or from oxychlorine decomposition) can react with water-evolving phases (e.g., phyllosilicates) in the sample and evolve HCl within the temperature range of SAM (<~870 °C). These laboratory analog studies support that the SAM detection of oxychlorine phases is consistent with the presence of Mg, Ca, Na, and K perchlorate and/or chlorate along with possible contributions from adsorbed oxychlorines in Gale crater samples.

The water uptake and release by perchlorate salts have been well studied since the first in situ identification of such salts in the Martian soil by the Phoenix mission in 2008. However, there have been few studies on the effect of the insoluble regolith minerals on the interaction of perchlorate with water vapor. In this work, we investigate the impact of a Mars‐relevant mineral, montmorillonite, and a Mars soil analog, Mojave Mars Simulant (MMS), on the deliquescence (transition from dry crystalline to aqueous via water vapor absorption), ice formation, and efflorescence (transition from aqueous to dry crystalline via loss of water) of pure magnesium perchlorate. We studied mixtures of magnesium perchlorate hexahydrate with either montmorillonite or MMS. Although montmorillonite and MMS are materials that may serve as nuclei for either ice nucleation or salt efflorescence, we find that these soil analogs did not affect the phase transitions of magnesium perchlorate. The salt‐mineral mixture behaved similarly, within estimated uncertainties, to pure magnesium perchlorate in all cases. Experiments were performed in both N₂ and CO₂ atmospheres, with no detectable difference. We use data from the Mars Science Laboratory Rover Environmental Monitoring Station instrument and the Phoenix Thermal and Electrical Conductivity Probe, as well as modeling of the shallow subsurface, to determine the likelihood of these perchlorate phase transitions occurring at Gale Crater and the northern arctic plains (Vastitas Borealis). We find that aqueous solutions are predicted in the shallow subsurface of the Phoenix landing site, but not predicted at Gale Crater.