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LETTER OF THE MONTH
Even successful landings can leave a mess behind
Litter at landing sites
There are some great pictures in your magazine, especially the one showing the remains of the landing gear for NASA’s Perseverance rover (New Year, p10). My first thought was, “Wow, the picture quality is fantastic!” But it quickly turned to, “Wow, what a mess!”
As an apprentice engineer, about 50 years ago, the first lesson I learnt was to never be seen doing nothing. If you’ve finished the job you’ve been given and there’s nothing else to do, then pick up a brush and start sweeping. Let’s hope that when the first settlers arrive on Mars sometime in the future, the job at the top of their to-do list is clear up the mess left by previous missions. It seems funny that we go to all the trouble of keeping the spacecraft super clean before they leave, only for them to create a big mess when they arrive. I wonder if there’s a plan to clean up?