(CNN) — NASA’s Perseverance rover captured an unusual image of something lying in the red sand of Mars: a bundle of string.
NASA’s Perseverance rover captured a photo of a small bundle of rope while exploring Jezero Crater.
The rover’s left forward hazard avoidance camera took a photo of the light-colored object on July 12 that some people likened to spaghetti.
Space agency officials confirmed that they believe the object is a rope left over from the Perseverance landing.
The tether might be from the rover or from its descent stage, a rocket-powered jet pack-like component used to safely lower the rover to the planet’s surface, according to a spokesperson for the Perseverance mission at the Laboratory. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Facility in Pasadena, California.
The Perseverance had not previously been to the area where the rope was found, so it is likely the wind carried it there, the spokesman said.
Currently exploring an ancient delta called Jezero Crater, the rover is looking for signs of microscopic life that may have called Mars home billions of years ago, the spokesman said. This crater is where Perseverance originally landed on February 18, 2021.
The rover’s camera captured a larger image of the rope (below).
When Perseverance revisited the rope site four days later, the object was gone.
This isn’t the first time the rover has stumbled upon pieces of material left over from its descent to Mars.
Perseverance’s cameras snapped a photo of a piece of glowing foil in mid-June, according to a tweet from the rover’s official account. The team believed it was part of the rover’s thermal blanket, a thin material that regulates temperature, which might have fallen off during the descent stage.
The rover team at NASA is doing more research on the new piece of debris and plans to release more details later this week.
