NASA’s Mars rover Perseverance has been working for a while. Investigating whether there are remnants of past life on the red planet, the spacecraft recently made an unexpected discovery. Although Perseverance’s discovery on the Martian surface excited researchers at first, the truth emerged later.
A piece of earth on Mars!
Perseverance captured an image of a piece stuck in a rock. Although the shiny piece in the image was surprising at first, it later turned out to be a piece of thermal blanket. This piece is thought to have been ripped from the spacecraft while Perseverance was landing on Mars.
The thermal blanket found appears to be stuck between two rocks. Another surprising detail is that this bright piece is about 2 kilometers away from Perseverance’s landing site. The team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California said the piece was either dragged here during the descent or was carried by Martian winds.
The statement made on the Twitter account of NASA’s Perseverance tool is as follows:
My team noticed something unexpected. A piece of thermal blanket they think may have come from my rocket-powered jet landing stage that brought me down on my landing day in 2021.
In another post shared on the same twitter address, the following statements were made:
This shiny foil piece is part of a thermal blanket, a material used to control temperatures. It was a surprise to find this here: My landing site is about 2 kilometers away. Did this piece come here right after landing, or was it blown by the wind?
Although this piece of thermal blanket created excitement for a while, the problem is solved for now looks. Perseverance will continue to explore Mars in search of remains of life for a while. The spacecraft is also collecting rock fragments from the red planet to bring to Earth.
Let’s hope Perseverance doesn’t leave the blanket piece there either. Because we don’t want to pollute Mars either. So what do you think about this subject? You can share your views with us in the comments section.
