A strange object shaped like a piece of toilet paper has appeared in NASA images taken from Mars .
But it turned out to be space junk that they themselves brought to Mars. (Photo: NASA).
NASA's Ingenuity helicopter landed on Mars on September 24. However, strangely, when landing, scientists saw a white, flying object appear on the helicopter's control screen. The strange object got stuck in the device during its flight around the universe.
Normally, the control camera is placed below the helicopter, so scientists would observe the four legs of the helicopter in one corner of the image. But this time, the camera captured an image of a piece of paper appearing in another corner and fluttering throughout the flight.
An object that looks like toilet paper has been discovered on the "red planet". (Photo: Cnet).
However, the images received after the flight did not show anything unusual at this angle. That shows that it is very likely that the strange object later fell off the helicopter or was not in the camera's recording area.
According to Cnet, this object looks like toilet paper on Earth, but is called a 'foreign object' (FOD ) by NASA. Sharing with the news site, a representative of this aviation agency said that the remote control system and pre-flight test were all normal and the helicopter showed no signs of damage.
On its official Twitter page, NASA also posted a video recording this strange object. They said they were studying the strange object that got stuck to Ingenuity during its latest trip. 'Something got stuck to the helicopter on Mars! But the video shows that the object later fell off the plane and did not affect Ingenuity's 33rd flight,' the space agency shared.
According to Cnet, Ingenuity is a helicopter that specializes in exploring the Jezero Crater region on Mars with NASA's Perseverance rover. So far, this durable helicopter has completed 33 flights and continuously broke the records of previous flights, both in duration and speed.
Ingenuity continues to set records for flights on Mars. (Photo: NASA).
Jezero is a very windy region and Perseverance has spotted many strange objects here. It is very likely that they are leftover debris from the spacecraft's first landing on the 'red planet' in 2021.
These objects include pieces of trash that look like noodles, metal foil, or unidentified long rods. Therefore, it is likely that the piece of toilet paper caught in the Ingenuity helicopter this time is also human-caused space debris similar to the above objects, Cnet commented.
Previously, on June 16, NASA's Perseverance rover also shared a photo of a piece of trash on Mars, which is believed to be a sign of extraterrestrial life. This shiny silver object is located between two rocks at the bottom of Jezero Crater. However, the silver object that was just found does not originate from this planet. After careful examination, NASA determined that this was a piece of trash from Perseverance.
