Blanket in Perseverance's image. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech
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On Wednesday, NASA tweeted a picture that reveals an âunexpectedâ fragment of the thermal blanket of the missionâs descent stage, which the agency described as âthe rocket-powered jet packâ that set Perseverance down, before veering off to crash about a mile from the roverâs landing site. The descent stage was shattered by the impact and literally went up in smoke, a valiant death that Perseverance was actually able to capture in real time pictures. But not even NASA knows how it got there.
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âItâs a surprise finding this here,â NASA said in its tweet noting that the descent stage crashed two kilometers (1.2 miles) from Perseveranceâs current location. âDid this piece land here after that, or was it blown here by the wind?âFor now, the details of this blanket scrapâs journey across Mars remain a mystery. However, itâs not the first time the mission has encountered spent components from the roverâs daredevil landing. In April, a small helicopter named Ingenuity, which was delivered to Mars with Perseverance, snapped aerial shots of the wreckage of the descent shell and parachute.
This spacecraft debris provides helpful information about the complex maneuvers required to land on Mars, which can streamline future attempts to touch down on the red planet, or even other planetary surfaces. But they are also simply mesmerizing to behold, offering a reminder that humans now leave artifacts beyond on the surface of extraterrestrial worlds.