NASA’s Perseverance Rover Finds Piece Of Foil Litter On Mars
Image via NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover
Did someone toss their burrito wrapper on Mars?
It sure looked that way—as a scrap of foil, wedged between red rocks, was spotted by the cameras of NASA’s Perseverance rover.
While the rover’s team has determined the litter to be human-made garbage, environmentalists can rest easy that this was accidental. The team believes that the scrap was from a thermal blanket that had escaped from the rover’s jet pack while it was making its rocky descent in 2021.
My team has spotted something unexpected: It’s a piece of a thermal blanket that they think may have come from my descent stage, the rocket-powered jet pack that set me down on landing day back in 2021. pic.twitter.com/O4rIaEABLu
— NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) June 15, 2022
Such blankets help safeguard the rover from harsh temperatures in space.
What most surprised the team was how the foil ended up two kilometers (1.24 miles) away from the crash site. “Did this piece land here after that, or was it blown here by the wind?” Perseverance’s Twitter account ponders.
Here’s part of the team at JPL that wrapped me up in thermal blankets. Think of them as spacecraft dressmakers. They work with sewing machines and other tools to piece together these unique materials.
— NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) June 15, 2022
More on that here: https://t.co/CNkUheYFnQ pic.twitter.com/PcMeow3FyO
[via Insider and 9News, images via NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover]
