The glossy foil was part of Perseverance’s thermal blanket. However, it is puzzling how this waste ended up two kilometers from the landing site…

In a photo that Mars rover Perseverance recently sent back to Earth, NASA spotted something striking. Clamped between a large boulder is a silver-colored piece of litter, probably dislodged during Perseverance landing on Mars.

Thermal Blanket

The Perseverance team suspects that the glossy foil was part of Perseverance thermal blanket. This material was used to protect the rover from the extreme temperatures it was exposed to during its descent.

enigmatic

However, how the foil got stuck in the Martian boulder in question is a mystery. For example, this rock is about two kilometers away from the spot where Mars rover Perseverance set foot. NASA is therefore amazed by the find. “It’s a surprise to find this here,” the US agency said. “Did this piece crash here after landing, or was it blown here by the wind?”

mess

This is not the first time that litter has been found on Mars. Last year, images from the Trace Gas Orbiter showed that Perseverance had made a mess during its landing. The parachute, the protective shell that encased Perseverance during the journey to Mars and the descent, and the eight-engine jetpack that landed Perseverance safely on Mars are still swinging around the landing site. Not so long ago, Mars helicopter Ingenuity captured the inflicted gang even better on image.

Other litter

But not only Perseverance leaves a trail of junk. Our drive to explore has led to several robots already roaming the red planet. And parts of these Mars rovers can still be found on the red planet.

Affected

All this litter worries some scientists. In the eyes of these scientists, Mars is actually one big crime scene where they hope to find traces of life, not pollution. When robots and possibly even humans roam the planet in the future, they may destroy important ‘evidence’ or leave traces that will soon lead scientists on the wrong track. But also aside from science, there are of course good reasons to be careful with ‘pure’ Mars. After all, aren’t we obliged to do that for the next generations? Don’t they deserve to see Mars as it is, so without waste and without affecting the landscape?

Moon and the space around the earth
Not only Mars, but also the moon is no longer as pristine as it once was. Recently, a dumped rocket booster rammed into the moon. There are also fragments of the Israeli lunar lander Beresheet that crashed on the moon in April 2019. And in 2009, our natural satellite was even purposefully bombed, hoping to learn something from the dust plume created by the collision. The space around the earth is no longer waste-free. It is estimated that hundreds of tons of garbage are circling the earth. Think of broken and discarded satellites, but also of (tiny) debris from satellites that have collided with each other. Researchers have been expressing concern about this troubling state of affairs for some time now. This is partly because space debris even occasionally poses a threat to the manned ISS.

Meanwhile, Perseverance’s mission continues. Because despite the mess that the Mars rover leaves, it does a very important job. Perseverance landed in the Jezero crater on February 18, 2021 and has been hunting for traces of (former) life ever since. That’s a first; previous rovers investigated the habitability of Mars, but never actively searched for life. And if Perseverance does come across life, maybe we’ll forgive him a little for the mess he made on Mars.