NASA’s Perseverance rover is yet to find proof of life on Mars, but it has captured “something unexpected” on the red planet. The car-sized robot has found a silver object wedged between two rocks on the floor of the Jezero crater and surprisingly enough, it has nothing to do with Martians. The debris found is believed to be a part of the rover itself.
Why does this finding matter?
Humanity’s search for life on Mars dates back to the late 1960s. Although we are yet to find anything concrete, several missions to our red neighbor have shown promising signs.
Perseverance, one such mission, has been looking for signs of ancient Martian life for over a year. It is yet to discover any, but the latest find is proof that it is working hard.
What did the Perseverance rover find?
Perseverance landed on Mars in February 2021. The rover’s landing was facilitated by its descent stage, a rocket-powered jet pack that comes into play after the parachute.
According to NASA, the silver object captured by the rover is a piece of a thermal blanket that may have come from the descent stage.
The thermal blanket protects the rover from extreme temperatures during landing. NASA was surprised to find the shiny litter at the particular location it was found, as it is 2 km away from the rover’s landing site. NASA wrote in surprise, “Did this piece land here after that, or was it blown here by the wind?”
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