The trash was found by the explorer robot Perseverance belonging to NASA while looking for clues about microbes on Mars in the past.
Suddenly, Perseverance saw the remains or debris of the landing trapped in a jagged rock. The thermal protector is shaped like aluminum foil.
The difference is that the “junk” is an expensive thermal material that NASA uses to protect the Perseverance spacecraft from extreme temperatures while traveling to Mars. Precisely, to protect the plane as it glides into the Martian atmosphere.
RoverPerseverance tweeted on Twitter. Photo: Twitter
“Our team found something unique. Namely a thermal layer that is part of the shield that may peel off when I launch my first rocket-powered jet on Mars in 2021,” tweeted the Perseverance rover.
What’s a mystery is how this protective layer got to this area of Mars’ Jezero Crater. Because the distance is about two kilometers from where the landing gear (rocket-powered jet) that took Perseverance landed in the desert of Mars.
“Did this piece get blown here?” asked NASA.
Perseverance landed on Mars in February 2021. On its descent to the planet’s surface, the spacecraft dumped various instruments and objects, including a heat shield, supersonic parachute, and a rocket-powered sky crane that lowered the Perseverance rover robot to the ground.
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