2024-02-03 10:14:00
Last week, NASA announced the end of the Ingenuity helicopter’s mission on Mars, after one of its blades broke and it was no longer able to fly.
Although this news was sad for space enthusiasts, it means that the helicopter added about 1.8 kilograms to the pile of waste that humans threw to the surface of the red planet.
Scientists say there are more than seven tons of debris scattered across Mars, roughly equivalent to seven giraffes or three rhinos.، From the parachutes and heat shields deployed during landing, to the drill bits, tire bits, and of course the Ingenuity helicopter’s wing tip.
Three rovers are currently still working hard on the surface of Mars to help find conclusive evidence that our planetary neighbor once hosted life: NASA’s Curiosity and Perseverance spacecraft, and China’s Zurong rover.
During operation, rovers are not classified as space junk, but for those that crashed or “died” (their mission was over), they are all classified as junk.
This includes the Mars 6 lander, which malfunctioned during landing, and the British Beagle 2, which failed to contact Earth after its scheduled landing on Christmas Day 2003.
Shortly after the launch of Beagle 2, NASA successfully sent the Spirit and Opportunity rovers, two pioneering rovers that discovered not only that Mars was wetter than previously thought during its past, but that conditions could have supported life. Microbial.
Both have worked far beyond their initial 90-day missions, with Opportunity roaming the planet for nearly 15 years, only being abandoned in 2019.
In 2022, NASA’s “InSight” lander also ended its mission after four years of work on the surface of the red planet, with an emotional farewell on the “X” platform.
The statement read: “My energy is really low, so this may be the last photo I can send. Don’t worry about me though: my time here has been productive and peaceful. If I can continue to talk to my mission team, I will do so, but I will stop working.” “Here soon. Thanks for staying with me.”
InSight followed NASA’s Phoenix lander, which landed in May 2008, but quickly ended its mission in November of that year.
And it’s not just entire spacecraft that cause debris: operational rovers tend to leave a trail of trash in their wake. The Perseverance rover dropped a drill bit during a mission in July 2021, and the rugged surface of Mars created many holes in its tire tracks, leaving bits of material behind as the rover traveled.
However, some missions have left more dramatic evidence of their existence, especially those that failed.
For example, NASA’s ambitious Polar Lander was lost upon arrival in December 1999. In 2005, the agency released photos of what it believed to be the crash site, including burn marks and a parachute.
However, it’s all in the name of science, said Dr James Blake from the University of Warwick’s Department of PhysicsMetro website.
Adding that it is important that future missions are designed with sustainability in mind to ensure that the human footprint is reduced to a minimum.
The ultimate goal of these exploratory missions is for humans to eventually land on Mars, and when we get there, all the rovers that came before us will likely serve as treasured relics of human endeavor, rather than trash to be cleaned up.
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