What would life be like on another planet? Just imagine standing on Mars’ dusty terrain, looking out at a scene that looks like it could be straight out of a sci-fi movie. Now, imagine seeing what appears to be spacecraft wreckage scattered across the alien terrain. However, this is no fictional world at all. In fact, It’s the reality that NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter captured during its groundbreaking mission on the Martian landscape. As our species continues to push the frontiers of space exploration, these types of images manage to ignite our imaginations, conjuring images of alien civilizations beyond our solar system.
Man Explores Space Beyond Earth
On the 17th of December, 1903, the Wright brothers took the first steps towards creating flying machines capable of transporting people across great distances. While these first experimental attempts only managed to stay in the air for a few seconds at a time, over the next 120 years mankind would master the art of flight. At some point, we decided that our next goal was to explore space. In 1969, a huge milestone was reached when we sent a manned mission to the moon. Today, we have many craft flying through space, exploring far-out planets in our solar system.
The 2020 Mars Mission
NASA launched the Perseverance Rover in 2020. As part of the Mars mission, it brought with it the Ingenuity Helicopter, which was scheduled to fly five times over the red planet. However, the helicopter ultimately performed 72 flights and earned its place in history as the first aircraft that successfully completed a powered, controlled flight on another planet. The craft was designed to fly to regions where the rover couldn’t safely go. It shot a series of photographs so we could observe Mars, and in 2022, it captured a breathtaking shot.
The ”Alien Wreckage” on Mars
The photograph reveals what appears to be the wreckage of an alien spacecraft. The object appears reddened from its contact with Mars’ surface, and there are pieces of debris strewn across the desert-like landscape. One of the people who worked on Perseverance’s parachute system, Ian Clark, even found the picture fascinating, stating: “There’s definitely a sci-fi element to it. It exudes otherworldly, doesn’t it? They say a picture’s worth 1,000 words, but it’s also worth an infinite amount of engineering understanding.”
The Wreck’s Man-Made Origins
Unfortunately, as much as the wreckage may look alien technology, its real origin is far closer to home than one might imagine. While the wreckage might seem ‘otherworldly’, it is not proof that aliens dwell among us or have visited the surface of the red planet. The truth is, if we find any spacecraft wreckage on Mars it is because we placed it there. What the NASA helicopter actually discovered was part of the landing gear used for bringing the Perseverance Rover to Mars’ surface.
Litterbugs of The Milky Way
With regards to space, we humans are terrible litterbugs. Our planet’s orbit is filled with junk that we sent up there but no longer require. Now it seems that our space explorations will clutter up other universes as well. Maybe one day in the future we’ll actually make it to Mars and clean everything we left there. Or, maybe it will remain there forever, a reminder of humanity’s quest to explore space. It wouldn’t be the first time we have left space junk in our wake. In fact, according to the Natural History Museum, there are currently around 3,000 dead satellites floating through space.
The Bottom Line
Our journey through the incredible universe around us is still in its very early stages. However, if we continue to leave behind space debris, we may prevent ourselves from being able to explore any further. This is because there are literally thousands of other bits of debris flying around our planet, posing a threat to spacecraft and our future ambitions of space exploration. If we wish to continue exploring planets such as Mars, we will need to create less wasteful methods of space exploration.
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