And although humans have not yet reached the Red Planet, more than seven tons of rubbish has fallen on its surface in the past 50 years or so. These are estimates supported by Kajri Kilic of West Virginia University. The scientist analyzed the mass of all the vehicles and orbits sent to Mars, and then subtracted the weight of what is currently in use.
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In this way, Kilic estimated that at the moment on the surface of the fourth planet from the Sun there are about 7,100 kilograms of Earth’s debris. These pollutants include discarded equipment, inactive spacecraft, and those that crashed on Mars. The persistent rover, which has been traveling on the surface of the Red Planet since February of last year, even immortalized our “garbage”, while intriguing scientists about the origin of these objects.
There is currently at least 7,119 kg of Earth’s waste on Mars
Of course, it should be noted that the presence of these pollutants is not the result of the bad faith of engineers planning missions to Mars. In most cases, this waste is an integral part of the implemented projects and its generation will be difficult to avoid. Apart from instruments that crashed on the surface of Mars, undermining many years of preparation, you can also find at the site, for example, heat shields that provide protection during the passage of ships through the local atmosphere or parachutes designed to slow down falls. of these “shipments”.
There are a total of nine inactive spacecraft on Mars, including the Mars 3 probe, the Mars 6 probe, the Viking 1 probe, the Viking 2 probe, the Schiaparelli probe, the Phoenix probe, the Sojourner rover, the Spirit rover, and the Opportunity rover. The total weight of all ships sent to the site is 9,979 kg, while the ships currently in operation weigh 2,860 kg. This allows us to calculate that inactive devices are responsible for a total of 7,119 kg of pollution.
