• News
    • Tech News
    • AI
  • Gadgets
    • Apple
    • iPhone
  • Gaming
    • Playstation
    • Xbox
  • Science
    • News
    • Space
  • Streaming
    • Netflix
  • Vehicles
    • Car News
  • Social Media
    • WhatsApp
    • YouTube
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
TikTok
Snapchat
WhatsApp
Submit Your Content
Shocking diagram reveals all the junk we’ve already littered on Mars

Home> Science> Space

Published 12:59 2 Feb 2024 GMT

Shocking diagram reveals all the junk we’ve already littered on Mars

It turns out even Mars isn't safe from all our trash.

Prudence Wade

Prudence Wade

Mars is the current Holy Grail for space missions, and humanity has been throwing everything we can at it.

With each new mission to the Red Planet, alongside the hope of loads of interesting data and samples for our scientists to study, there comes a slightly depressing cost.

A diagram shows all the locations of debris left behind on Mars by these missions or their failures - an amount of leftover waste that is probably way heavier than you might think.

Advert

NASA

Indeed, reports suggest that over the whole surface of Mars we've so far spread around seven tonnes of waste, which is a pretty big total considering how we've only managed to send probes to the planet on relatively few occasions.

Of course, since so many of those missions are designed to establish whether Mars has ever hosted any form of life, and things aren't looking certain on that front, it's not like there's any local flora or fauna to be disturbed by the debris.

Still, though, if only on the principle that littering is to be avoided, you'd have to think that at some point we'll need to do something about it all.

Advert

Thankfully, all or most of these debris clusters are tracked and located (since they have almost all come from missions that cost huge amounts to run, and constitute valuable data fields themselves).

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Not all of the debris is from failed missions, either - once a rover is on the surface of Mars, after all, there's no easy way to get it back home.

This means that once its machinery fails, it runs out of juice, or it simply stops working due to wear and tear, it effectively becomes a permanent fixture in the barren landscape of Mars.

Advert

This applies to famous landers like Beagle 2 and, more recently, Insight, along with the identical rovers Spirit and Opportunity, all sent by space agencies to Mars over the years.

All of this is hard to change until we finally get humans to the planet. While their first priority won't exactly be trash cleanup duty, this will doubtless eventually be on the agenda, even if it comes decades or centuries down the line.

After all, if you don't keep your house in order you'll risk suddenly discovering that you're living in filth, and while a planet of Mars' size might take a long time to fill up, there's no sense in starting off on a bad footing.

Featured Image Credit: NASA
Mars
Space
Nasa

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

3 days ago
  • 3 days ago

    Scientists identify source of eerie ocean rings used as a 'communication' signal from non-humans

    This could change everything

    Science
  • 3 days ago

    Shocking study reveals exactly how quickly humanity would go extinct if we stopped having children

    Humanity could be plunged into chaos quicker than you might think

    Science
  • 3 days ago

    Doctor issues warning over simple supplement dubbed 'nature's Ozempic'

    Opting for 'natural Ozempic' might not be as good as it seems

    Science
  • 3 days ago

    Scientists discover groundbreaking new evidence that the Big Bang theory is wrong

    A team of researchers have come up with the new Black Hole Universe theory

    Science
  • Why this 24-year-old could be the first person ever to step foot on Mars
  • NASA details groundbreaking plans for humans to live and work on Mars as soon as the 2030s
  • NASA’s Mars helicopter found 'otherworldly' wreckage on planet's surface
  • NASA discovery could provide 'critical evidence' of life on Mars