Discarded pieces of landing gear, crashed spacecraft and wear and tear have produced a lot of debris now scattered around the Martian surface.
Rovers on Mars frequently come across debris — like this heat shield and spring — from their own or other missions. NASA/JPL-Caltech CC BY-ND
All spacecraft that land on Mars eject equipment — like this protective shell — on their way to the Martian surface. NASA/JPL-Caltech The craft discards pieces of the module as it descends, and these pieces can land in different locations on the planet’s surface — there may be a lower heat shield in one place and a parachute in another. When this debris crashes to the ground, it can break into smaller pieces, as happened during the Perseverance rover landing in 2021. These small pieces can then get blown around because of Martian winds.
The European Space Agency’s Schiaparelli lander crashed onto the surface of Mars in 2016, as seen in these photos of the crash site captured by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona The wheels of the Curiosity rover have taken damage over the years, leaving behind small bits of aluminum. NASA/JPL-Caltech
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