NASA’s Perseverence rover has found a discarded thermal blanket on Mars.
The rover’s Twitter account posted a photo of man-made garbage trapped among the rocks on the planet.
“My team has detected something unexpected: it’s a piece of a thermal blanket that they think may have come from my descent stage, the rocket-powered jetpack that dropped me on the day of the landing in 2021.” , said the tweet.
A thermal blanket has been found on Mars. (NASA)
“This piece of glossy paper is part of a thermal blanket, a material used to control temperatures.
“It’s a surprise to find this here: my descent stage crashed about two miles away. Did this piece land here after that, or was it blown here by the wind?”
The rover was wrapped in thermal blankets before leaving for Mars to control the machine’s temperatures.
The blanket is believed to have landed on the planet during the rover’s descent. (NASA)
Scientists believe the thermal blanket was discarded on the planet during the rover’s descent, but are now trying to figure out if it landed there or was blown away by the wind.
The Perseverance Rover landed on Mars in February 2021 and is collecting data on the planet.
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