Useless man-made items scattered around the planet Mars. Human garbage of various sizes on the neighboring planet is estimated at 7119 kilograms, or about 7.1 tons.

They come from three sources over about 50 years of exploration of the planet: discarded parts, crashed spaceships, and those that are intact but dormant and no longer function. Humanity has sent 18 spacecraft on 14 separate missions, according to the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs. Many are still active, but for others, Mars has become their “grave”.

The latest “junk” was discovered in mid-August this year, when NASA announced that the Perseverance rover had found a piece of equipment, a tangled piece of mesh that had been ejected during its own landing.

Every mission that attempts to land smoothly on the surface of Mars has equipment (heat shield, parachute, etc.) that is ejected as the ship descends. As the pre-landing ejecta hits the ground, it can break into smaller pieces that are likely to be blown away by strong Martian winds, as was the case with the arrival of Perseverance in 2021. Besides this rover, other US rovers such as Curiosity and Opportunity have encountered objects coming from their own landings.

The second largest category of “garbage” is nine currently inactive spacecraft on the planet’s surface, namely: Mars 3 lander, Mars 6 lander, Viking 1 lander, Viking 2 lander, Sojourner rover, Beagle 2 lander , Phoenix lander, Spirit rover. and the Opportunity rover. Most of them are almost intact, so in some sense they can be considered historical “relics” and not garbage.

The third category, wrecked ships, is best suited for junks. At least two crashed, and four others were lost shortly before or during landing, so they should probably be considered broken, for example. due to their faster than expected descent.

If you add up all of the above, then, according to the calculations of Kagri Kilicha, a roboticist from the University of West Virginia, the weight of all human structures sent to Mars reaches ten tons (9,979 kg). If we subtract from this the weight of the spacecraft still in operation (2860 kg), then we get garbage weighing 7119 kg.

Some are concerned about the danger some of this debris could pose to current and future missions to Mars. A rover, for example, can become entangled in such debris.

^{Source: RES-IPE}