Over the past 46 years, humankind has explored Mars. News from the Red Planet draws out the wonder in all of us.
According to a new Conversation essay, we have left behind a surprising amount of trash so far.
Junk is left behind on the surface of Mars. In July of this year, a noodle-like object that had NASA scientists scratching their heads was just a piece of shredded net left over from a previous landing.
We have treated the Earth in a way that makes it hard to consider our impact on our planetary neighbor.
Mars debris comes from three main sources.
The current method of landing on the planet leaves a lot of debris. A parachute is deployed to slow down the craft as it approaches the ground. All that stuff ends up being thrown away. The essay states that even active rovers leave behind bits of discarded hardware.
Most of the landers are inactive, which is often overlooked. Nine of them are in the desert sands. They may be better considered historical relics than trash.
Between two to four crashed spaceships lie ruined on the surface of the planet, a reminder that landing on the planet is not easy.
NASA scientists are concerned that pollution may endanger current and future missions. It's not a good idea for junk to get tangled up in a state-of-the-art rover. The risk of contaminating samples collected by the rover is low.
There is more on Mars, including showing Catastrophic Ancient Damage.
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