How did Mars turn into a landfill for tons of waste? | Science and Technology | The latest discoveries and studies from DW Arabic

The discovery of garbage on the surface of Mars in June 2022 by the “Mars Rover” raised great eyebrows. But it’s not the first time the vehicle has found waste from previous trips. In recent years, the Curiosity and Opportunity probes have also stumbled upon the garbage they left on the surface of Mars.

Kajri Kilic, a researcher at West Virginia University, attributes the main sources of this waste to three sources: devices and equipment that are no longer needed, vehicles and inactive spacecraft, and the third source is the remains of spacecraft that crashed while landing, according to the German “t3n” website.

Upon landing alone, several parts become unusable later. They include the heat shield designed to protect spacecraft as they enter the Martian atmosphere and the landing parachute. Moreover, according to researcher Kilic, there are eight inactive spacecraft on the surface of Mars, including the Mars lander and the Viking program, in addition to the Spirit and Opportunity rover. At least two of the spacecraft are said to have crashed upon landing. Space agencies also lost contact with four others during or shortly after landing.

Ten tons of equipment and parts on Mars

After the first planned trips to Mars from the former Soviet Union and the United States of America failed in the early 1960s due to the failure of launch pads when they were still close to Earth, the Soviet Union’s Mars 2 (Mars 2) spacecraft is perhaps the first spacecraft to land on Mars. The surface of Mars, but crashed upon landing.

Also plastic waste spotted by the Mars rover on Mars

And if all the equipment that humanity sent to Mars were put together, it would weigh nearly ten tons, according to Kelick. If we deduct from it the weight of the vehicles, which are still operating, such as the Mars Perseverance rover, the amount of other things that fall into the waste category is 7120 kilograms, or more than seven tons, according to the German “t3n” website.

For scientists accompanying current and future Mars missions, the number of scrap parts, their size, and above all their placement, are very important. After all, these objects could jeopardize future Mars flights or contaminate samples collected from there. So the Mars rover Perseverance, for example, is accurately photographing every piece of junk it finds on the surface of Mars.

H.D

The search for life on Mars is still underway
mobile laboratory
The Corositi is the most rounded and largest of the chariots, sent to the land of Mars. It landed on August 6, 2012 and traveled about 17 kilometers on Mars. Curiosity is more than a cart, it’s a complete mobile laboratory on wheels.

The search for life on Mars is still underway
Labs
Curiosity has a spectrophotometer that analyzes by means of laser beams the components of materials from a distance. A complete weather station that measures temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, radiation and wind speed. Most importantly, it contains a chemical laboratory that analyzes the organic elements on Mars to search for life.

The search for life on Mars is still underway
drill
The results of his research revealed the possibility of life in theory on Mars. But no life has yet been revealed. At the end of the main arm of the cart there is a knife for cutting the ground and a drill.

The search for life on Mars is still underway
dust analysis
Mars dust is analyzed by different instruments. At first, the dust is separated into different parts, then it is classified and sent to different laboratories for analysis.

The search for life on Mars is still underway
little explorer
Before Curiosity there was a Mars explorer who landed on July 4, 1997. This was the first time a robot had walked on Mars carrying an X-ray laboratory to examine the composition of materials, as well as moving lens cameras.

The search for life on Mars is still underway
generations and sizes
Three generations of wagons. The little one is Explorer Sojourner. Weighing in at 10.6 kg, it is about the size of a baby stroller. Its maximum speed is one centimeter per second. The second generation Opportunity, which weighed 185 kilograms. The Curiosity is the largest and weighs 900 kilograms, the size of a small car. Its speed is up to five centimeters per second.

The search for life on Mars is still underway
Only four months
Surgonor only traveled 100 meters during its mission, and transmitted images and information until 27 September 1997. This is one of the last images sent by the explorer before radio communication with Earth was cut off. It is believed that the reason for the “death” of the explorer was the low temperature at night, which led to the death of his batteries.

The search for life on Mars is still underway
together
Without Surgonor’s experience, he would not have imagined the success of the second and third generation explorers. In 2004, NASA sent two explorers to Mars at the same time; Spirit and portunity. We were able to move for 7 years on the surface of Mars, covering a distance of 7.7 kilometers. One of them was able to climb the heights, take models from the ground, and withstand the cold and sandstorms, so that the brother Aportotni is still working today on the land of Mars.

The search for life on Mars is still underway
stay
Oportonte traveled 42 kilometers until 2015. Which is more distance than that covered by Curiosity. The explorer carries three types of spectrophotometers and three-dimensional cameras.

The search for life on Mars is still underway
A plateau on Mars
Photo taken by Curiosity. The Explorer is expected to operate for at least the next five years. The image of a plateau on Mars shows similar scenes on Earth. However, those living on Mars so far are the robots that humans have sent to Mars, waiting to explore other life. Prepared by: Jesse Vangrad/Abbas Al-Khashali