NASA's Rover stumbles across a metal foil on Mars

INA - SOURCES 

NASA has stumbled across an “unexpected” shiny object on Mars as the space agency’s Perseverance rover spotted the metal foil-like item during a routine wander.

But before you start speculating about aliens, the truth behind is a lot closer to home.

It turns out the material is one of NASA’s own.

Experts revealed the “surprise” finding on Twitter and say it appears to be a piece of a thermal blanket. They think it may have been from when Perseverance descended onto the Red Planet back in 2021.

More specifically, it may be from the rocket-powered jet pack. Zooming in on the image shows tiny dots which are normal for a thermal blanket.

NASA said they’re certain it’s part of a thermal blanket but are less sure about which part of the spacecraft.

“Less definite is which part of the spacecraft it came from – the team thinks the descent stage is a good possibility – or how exactly it got here,” explained Andrew Good from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).