INTERGALACTIC POLLUTION
NASA has accomplished a brilliant first, they could fly a small robotic helicopter named “Ingenuity” on Mars. The flight of “Ingenuity” was not very long but it must be recognized as an ingenious accomplishment for NASA. The project manager for “Ingenuity” Mimi Aung compared the flight of the “Ingenuity” to Orville and Wilbur Wright’s1903 flight of an aircraft at Kitty Hawk North Carolina. The major difference between the Wright Brother’s and NASA is the Wright Brothers did not leave their aircraft on the Beach of Kitty Hawk, but NASA is leaving “Ingenuity” on Mars.
The Soviet Union intentionally crashed Luna 2 on the Moon in 1959 the beginning of intergalactic pollution. Following that crash of Luna 2 by the Soviets, the United States, India, China, Israel, and Japan have all left debris on the Moon in one form or another. The highly educated Scientist, Engineer’s, and Astronauts have left just under 500,000 pounds of materials on the Moon. All this debris left on the Moon does not include two golf balls hit by the NASA Astronaut Alan Shepard.
The Soviet Union intentionally left two Soviet Probes on Mars in (1971) and again in (1974). The United States (NASA) landed the Viking 1 and Viking 2 on Mars in (1976) where they remain today. NASA also is credited with leaving on Mars, Pathfinder in (1997), Spirit and Opportunity in (2004), Phoenix in (2008), Curiosity in (2012), InSight in (2018) and Perseverance in (2021). No human has ever set foot on the Planet Mars and we already have left thousands of pounds debris on its surface.
Currently orbiting around the Planet Earth are just under 20,000 Satellites of which about 6,000 Satellites have no function. Also orbiting around the Planet Earth is what NASA calls 34,000 pieces of Space Junk. Space Junk is broken parts of Probes, Satellites, Rockets, and pieces of Space Crafts that failed their experimental objective.
If NASA really wants to accomplish something truly ingenious then they should have a plan to bring back all of the debris, we created and left on the Moon and Mars.
