NASA Finally Figured Out What That Weird Spaghetti It Found on Mars Was

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The Perseverance rover spotted a strange object on Mars.

The object was first captured by the Mars rovers camera on July 12 and then vanished four days later.

NASA speculated that it was a piece of cord from the parachute or the landing system that lowered the Perseverance rover to the ground.

The space agency wasn't that far off. NASA said in a statement that the object is a piece of Dacron net.

According to NASA, Dacron appears to have undergone significant unraveling and shredding, suggesting that it was subjected to strong forces.

Space Litter

The Perseverance rover's entry, descent, and landing hardware flew off when it landed on Mars. The debris from the EDL was scattered across the surface of the planet.

The material has traveled a long way since it crashed close to the rover.

For the most part, a bundle of string blowing around Mars is harmless and amusing, but NASA isn't messing around: team members are investigating photos of the material as it "may pose as a potentialContamination source for the sample tubes" in the area where it was found.

The risk of the shredded material becoming entangled with the Perseverance rover is low.

NASA doesn't see the spaghetti as threatening. Space debris being thrown away on the Martian surface is becoming a fairly common occurrence.

NASA says it is sending two more ingenuity-class helicopter to Mars.