The surface of Mars has been explored by people for over 50 years. According to the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs, 18 human-made objects have been sent to Mars. Humans have left behind a lot of debris on the planet's surface over the years.
I work on ways to track Mars and Moon rovers. A tangled mess of netting was spotted by the Mars rover Perseverance, which spotted a piece of trash that had been thrown away. Scientists have found trash before on the red planet. There is more than one thing there.
There are three main sources of debris onMars.
There is a module that protects the spaceship. The heat shield and parachute are included in the module so that the craft can land softly.
There may be a lower heat shield and a parachute on the planet's surface if pieces of the module are discarded as they descend.
The debris can break into smaller pieces when it crashes to the ground. Small pieces can be blown around by the winds on Mars.
Over the years, a lot of small, wind blown trash has been found.
The Perseverance rover spotted a thermal blanket wedged in some rocks 1.25 miles from where it landed. In 2012 and 2005 there were debris from their landings.
There are nine inactive satellites on the surface of Mars. The Mars 3 lander, Mars 6 lander, Viking 1 lander, Viking 2 lander, the Sojourner rover, the formerly lost Beagle 2 lander, and the Opportunity rover are some of the craft. These are mostly intact and could be considered historical relics.
There is wear and tear on the surface of the planet Mars. There are parts of the rover that have broken off.
Perseverance dropped a drill bit onto the surface to swap in a new one so that it could keep collecting samples.
Trash is a significant source of debris from crashed spaceships. There have been at least two crashes and six lost contact before or after landing. It isn't easy to safely descend to the planet's surface, and it can end badly.
The total mass of all the spaceships that have been sent to Mars is about 22,000 pounds. If you subtract the weight of the craft on the surface, you have 15,694 pounds of debris on Mars.
The risk of trash on Mars is the main concern of scientists today.
The Perseverance teams are documenting all the debris they find and checking to make sure it doesn't taint the samples the rover is taking. The risk of Perseverance getting caught in debris from the landing is low, according to NASA engineers.
There is a reason that debris on Mars is important. The early stages of human planetary exploration can be seen in the craft and their pieces.
Cagri Kilic is a research fellow at the university.
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