Scientists are calling for a catalog of human artifacts left on Mars — from spacecraft and landers to rovers, probes and other debris — to record humanity’s earliest steps in interstellar exploration.
“Our main argument is a smart man Justin Holcomb, an anthropologist at the University of Kansas, said in the report: Press release.
Holcomb and his colleagues believe that humans are currently experiencing an “initial historical phase” of migration across the Earth. solar system.
“We have already started The population of the solar system increases,” he said. “Just like we use artifacts and features to track our movement, evolution and history on Earth, we can do the same in outer space by tracking probes, satellites, landers and the various materials left behind.
“This dispersion creates a material footprint.”
Mars: The next stage of human migration
Mars, as our nearest planetary neighbor, has always been the main focus of human extraterrestrial exploration. Researchers estimate that by 2022, about 22,000 pounds (9,979 kilograms) man-made debris Now scattered across the surface of Mars.
“Since 1971, at least 16 missions have contributed to the development of the Martian archaeological record,” the team wrote in their paper published in the journal Mars Science. Natural Astronomy. “Archaeological sites on the Red Planet include landing and crash sites associated with artifacts such as probes, landers, rovers, and various debris discarded during landing, such as nets, parachutes, aluminum wheel fragments (For example, from this Curiosity rover), thermal protection blankets and shielding.
Major historical sites include Soviet Mars 2 lander and ProOP-M roverit became one of the first human-made objects to reach the surface of another planet – although it ceased operations just ten seconds after a hard landing. American Viking 1 landingthe first person to successfully operate on Mars, and CraftsmanshipAs the first autonomous helicopter to fly on another planet, it also represents an important milestone in interstellar exploration.
The scientific community has labeled most of the fragments as ““Space Junk” But Holcomb believes the materials have important archaeological and environmental value. He stressed that future missions should take care to avoid damaging the archaeological remains already present at these sites.
“This is the first physical record of our existence, and that’s important to us,” he said. “I see a lot of scientists referring to this material as space junk, galactic junk. Our view is that it’s not junk; it’s actually very important. Shifting that narrative towards legacy is critical because the solution to junk is removal , but the solution to heritage problems is conservation.
“There’s a big difference.”
Another factor to consider is that while anthropologists have a deep understanding of how climate and geology contribute to the degradation of artifacts on Earth, Planet’s extreme and unfamiliar environments It’s like Mars brings new challenges.
Martian artifacts exposed to cosmic radiation, solar windand interactions with water, soil, and ice, but how these forces affect materials over time remains largely unknown.
“Planetary geoarchaeology is certainly a future field, and we need to consider not only materials from all over Mars, but materials from various places on Mars where different processes occur,” Holcomb said. “For example, Mars has a cryosphere at northern and southern latitudes, so the glacial action there will increase the change in material more rapidly.
The scientist added that with Mars’ iron-rich sand, researchers want to know what happens to the material when it becomes buried on the Red Planet.
“The most obvious problem is being buried by large sand dunes. Mars is unique in having global dust storms,” Holcomb explained. “A storm can literally sweep across the entire globe. In addition, there are localized sandstorms. spiritual wandererFor example, it sits next to an encroaching dune field that will eventually bury it. Once buried, relocation becomes very difficult.
Holcomb added that a step in the right direction would be to establish a way to track and catalog human-made materials on Mars and other planets that humans might explore.
“These artifacts are very much like hand axes from East Africa or Clovis points from the United States,” he concluded. “They represent the first existence and, from an archaeological perspective, are key points in the timeline of our migration history.”