Garbage on Mars?: Human pollution has already made a foothold on the Red Planet

The truth was unexpected: While searching for signs of Martian microbial life in the past, NASA’s rover recently spotted debris stuck in a jagged boulder. This is the thermal material the space agency used to protect the persevering spacecraft from extreme temperatures as it traveled to Mars and plunged through the Martian atmosphere.

“My team saw something unexpected: It’s a piece of thermal blanket that they think came from my descent stage, The Rocket-Powered Jet Beam That Left Me On Landing Day 2021″And the NASA tweeted From the chariot of perseverance this Wednesday

Then the necessary question arose: How did the plate-shaped debris get to this area in Jezero Crater of Mars, about two kilometers from where the landing gear crashed in the Martian desert?

Another question that the space agency immediately asked: Did this piece land here then, or was it blown away by the wind?

The Persevering Rover touched down on Mars in February 2021. On its way down, the rover carrying the rover dropped an assortment of tools and objects, including a heat shield, a hypersonic parachute, and a rocket-powered overhead crane that lowered the rover to Earth. Not surprisingly, the rover has now found more debris as it descends.

Perseverance does not have much time to see rubbish.He is now entering the fullness of his mission as he explores a dry river delta in the crater of the volcano Jezero. Shortly before 3 billion yearsNASA planetary scientists believe that this area was filled with water. “This delta is one of the best locations on Mars for a rover to look for signs of microscopic life in the past,” NASA said.

After more than 15 months Landing in Jezero Crater on MarsAnd the NASA’s rover is leading the search for ancient life. On May 28 He placed a 5-centimeter wide circular patch on a rock at the base of what was once a river delta in the hole. This delta was formed billions of years ago, when a long river faded to deposit layers of sediment on it Jezeroand he The main reason that prompted NASA to send the rover there. On Earth, river sediments are often teeming with life.

Images of the new Earth spot show tiny grains of sediment, which scientists hope may contain chemical residue or other traces of life. “Look at the world in a grain of sand” for the poet William Blake comes to mind.” Sanjeev Gupta, Planetary geologist Imperial University of London, in Twitter.

The rover will spend the next several months exploring the Jezero Delta as expedition scientists decide where they want to drill and extract rock samples. NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) plan to retrieve those samples and return them to Earth for study no later than 2033, in the first return of a Mars sample. It was warned in an article recently published in the scientific journal Nature.

perseverance real estate In February 2021, Several kilometers from the edge of the delta. He spent many of the first few months exploring the crater floor, which Unexpectedly it’s made of rocks fireworksAnd the A type that forms when molten material cools. That was a scientific jackpot because Scientists can date igneous rocks based on the radioactive decay of their chemical elements. But many researchers were interested in perseverance It reaches the delta, whose fine sediments have the best chance of harboring evidence of Martian life.

the wanderer It finally reached the base of the delta in April. thus The discovery of gray rocks with thin layers called shale, It could have formed from sediment deposited by a slow-moving river or lake. also I found coarse-grained sandstones, that could have formed in a great river. These types of rocks are excellent targets for studying a variety of Martian environments where life could have thrived, according to Katie Stack Morgan, Deputy Project Scientist perseverance In the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, CA on May 17th during the online segment of 2022 Astrobiology Conference.

Later, Expedition engineers directed the Perseverance away from this area, called Enchanted Lake, and toward another area known as the Hawksbill Gap, Where do you work now? The newly worn patch was made of sandstone in one of the lower delta rock layers, which means it is one of the oldest rocks formed by a river. Jezero And therefore , Excellent place to look for signs of old life.

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