A ball of tangled wires observed by Perseverance on Mars leaves Nasa puzzled
Perseverance has already found itself face to face with the equipment that allowed it to land on Mars several times. And these wires are, without doubt, another example .
What is this strange object photographed on Mars? Nasa's Perseverance rover stumbled upon a ball of tangled wires last week, which has left experts baffled. "There are a lot of uncertainties," a Nasa spokesman told AFP. But the most plausible explanation is actually quite down to earth: according to some hypotheses, it could be pieces of the rope connecting the rover to the parachute having been used to brake its descent during its landing. Or to the one used to lower it during the last meters (a step called "skycrane").
Perseverance nose-to-nose with its equipment
Perseverance has already come face to face with the equipment that allowed it to land on Mars. In June, another photo showed what at first glance looked like a piece of aluminum foil, stuck between two red stones. It was actually a piece of thermal insulation from the descent stage (used for the "skycrane").
"We can suppose that these small debris were moved by the wind after the landing", commented the Nasa spokesman. And they are probably still moving: a few days after the photo of the wires, the rover passed by the same place again, but they had disappeared.
Ingenuity offers impressive images
These images were captured by the rover in the delta of an ancient river, which scientists believe flowed into a huge lake billions of years ago, and where Perseverance is looking for traces of ancient life. In place of the lake today: the Jezero crater, where the rover landed in February 2021. It is in this crater that it was able to photograph, in April, the parachute itself. The small helicopter embarked for the trip, called Ingenuity, captured even more impressive images in flight: not only the parachute, but also the rear shield that contained it before its deployment.
An image of the rear shield and parachute used for the landing of the Nasa rover Perseverance, taken in April by the Ingenuity helicopter. Credits NASA/JPL-Caltech/AFP - Handout
The shield appears heavily damaged by the impact it suffered when it hit the ground, after having completed its mission. Deciphering these images can "help enable safer landings in the future", Nasa commented at the time.