Following images that circulated appearing to show an "otherworldly" wreckage on Mars, the truth has been revealed.
Finding life in outer space would be really cool, but only if they come in peace.
(Although, the way things are going for us at the moment, if any Aliens did find us, they'd probably take one look and head off in the other direction.)
Nevertheless, our interest in finding life in the universe continues to soar, as human exploration on other planets continues to uncover remarkable discoveries. For example, one image from the surface of Mars caused a great deal of commotion when it was captured by NASA.
Ingenuity - a small helicopter affectionately nicknamed “Ginny" - arrived on Mars in July 2020, carried beneath NASA's Perseverance rover, per BBC News.
It took its first flight in April 2021, and though initially scheduled for just five missions, the helicopter went on to complete 72 flights before being retired in January due to technical issues.
The original mission plan allowed for only a handful of reconnaissance flights to survey terrain that the Perseverance rover couldn’t reach.
However, Ingenuity’s performance far surpassed expectations, with the helicopter logging 67 additional trips across the Martian surface.
One of Ginny’s most remarkable discoveries came in 2022, when it transmitted images showing scattered wreckage across Mars.
But before you get your hopes up of a crashed alien spaceship, the truth will bring you back down to Earth.
While the unusual debris sparked some excitement online - and continues to do so to this day in recirculated social media posts - these remnants were soon identified as pieces of the landing equipment used in Ingenuity and Perseverance's own descent onto Mars.
Ian Clark, an engineer who helped design the Perseverance’s parachute system, spoke to The New York Times about the significance of these images.
“There's definitely a sci-fi element to it. It exudes otherworldly, doesn't it?” he remarked. He added: “They say a picture's worth 1,000 words, but it's also worth an infinite amount of engineering understanding.”
Though the photos hint at the human presence on Mars with pieces of our own technology scattered on the ground, they are invaluable for future missions.
Yes, even on Mars, we're still not picking up our trash.
Clark elaborated: “Perseverance had the best-documented Mars landing in history, with cameras showing everything from parachute inflation to touchdown. But Ingenuity's images offer a different vantage point.
"If they either reinforce that our systems worked as we think they worked or provide even one dataset of engineering information we can use for Mars Sample Return planning, it will be amazing. And if not, the pictures are still phenomenal and inspiring.”
Teddy Tzanetos, who leads Ingenuity’s team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, emphasized the helicopter’s value in advancing Martian exploration.
“NASA extended Ingenuity flight operations to perform pioneering flights such as this,” he said. “Every time we're airborne, Ingenuity covers new ground and offers a perspective no previous planetary mission could achieve.”
So sadly no Martians just yet...
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