NASA has discovered a shiny object on the surface of Mars using one of its probes and has revealed its nature. The Perseverance rover, tasked with investigating the red planet for signs of ancient life, shared a mysterious image of the shiny silver object lodged between two rocks on the floor of Jezero Crater earlier this week, sparking widespread speculation about it. However, before speculation about aliens could begin, NASA was quick to clarify the truth behind this object, which turned out to be a material specifically from NASA.
Experts revealed the "surprising" finding on Twitter, stating that this shiny object is actually a piece of space debris that the Perseverance mission brought from Earth after its launch in 2020. The mission team mentioned via Twitter that the shiny object is a piece of thermal blanket, which they believe came from the landing stage of the rocket-powered descent stage.
A close-up of the image shows small dots that are typical for thermal blankets (material used for temperature control). In speaking with CNET, a NASA representative confirmed that they are sure it is part of the thermal blanket but are unsure of which part of the spacecraft it came from. Andrew Good from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) explained: "Less specific is which part of the spacecraft it came from - the team believes the landing stage is a good possibility - or how it exactly got here." He added: "The landing stage crashed about two kilometers away. Whether it landed here after that incident or was carried by the wind, we do not know."