NASA spacecraft crashes after series of discoveries about alien life

NASA has just released a series of tragic photos of Curiosity - the robot that was once the luckiest warrior in the hunt for alien life.

Curiosity is a lander that acts as a robotic rover on Mars . It began its hunt for alien life in 2012 and has made a series of groundbreaking discoveries, including the first "building blocks of life."

Now, new photos from NASA reveal the "wounds" this resilient warrior has suffered as it has struggled with the harsh terrain of Mars over the past 12 years.

NASA's Curiosity rover, one of the alien life-hunting robots operating on Mars - (Photo: NASA).

Curiosity took photos of its own "feet" with a camera it holds on its robotic arm, revealing large cracks and severe scratches.

However, concerned observers can breathe a sigh of relief: mission operations engineer Ashley Stroupe said the damage may be severe but Curiosity "is still performing well, despite some of the worst impacts from Mars."

There is no sign that this robot will stop working.

Curiosity has actually completed its two-year mission long ago. However, because it has been operating without fail, NASA has assigned it many extended missions, going to areas beyond its original plan and continuing to bring back many successes.

Curiosity's wheel was badly damaged - (Photo: NASA).

Curiosity's latest "injury" adds to a long list of problems that robotic explorers have encountered on Mars.

Most recently, NASA's Ingenuity robotic helicopter, a companion to the newer rover-like Perseverance.

Ingenuity ended its mission after sending its "will" back to Earth in April. It hit complex structures on the red planet's terrain during a reconnaissance flight, causing a wing to break and crash.

Last year, China's Zhurong autonomous vehicle-like robot failed to wake up after a period of silence.

NASA also lost two other famous warriors, the seismic robot InSight and the rover Opportunity, which had its solar panels blocked by harsh dust storms on Mars and stopped working.

The two active robots, Curiosity and Perseverance, use nuclear power and have escaped a similar "disaster" .