Strange ‘cylinder’ spotted in Mars rover image baffles Nasa fans – but there’s a simple explanation

SPACE geeks were left stunned after noticing a “mysterious object” on Mars.

The strange cylinder-like piece was captured in a shot taken by Nasa’s Perseverance rover.

NasaThe piece is actually from Nasa’s own rover[/caption]

One person said on Twitter that it looks “artificially created”, and suggested it could be an artifact of ancient civilisation on the Red Planet or a chunk of a crashed UFO.

It turns out the intriguing item actually belongs to Nasa.

According to a UFO hoax debunker, it was dropped “intentionally”.

But some have slammed the space agency for littering on the planet.

“Haven’t even stepped foot on the planet yet and we’re already littering,” one person said.

Another points out that Mars is a “robot graveyard” because of all old mission gadgets that have been left behind over the years.

“I mean it’s not like any of the probes and rover we sent were ever brought back,” they said.

The piece is a so-called ‘launch abrasion bit’.

It was apparently dumped on the ground back in July.

But since then, the object appears to have fallen over.

“This particular drill bit was installed before launch, to close out the drill and keep the inside protected,” the Perseverance team previously tweeted.

“To keep my science clean and clear, I’m leaving it aside before I start to collect samples with new, pristine drill bits.”

NasaPhoto of launch abrasion bit taken in July[/caption]

In other news, people are increasingly unable to tell apart fake faces made by AI and real ones, new research suggests.

Websites could crash in a couple of months if owners fail to make major change ahead of Chrome, Edge and Firefox ‘version 100’ update.

Uber has revealed the worst and best cities for passenger ratings.

And the naughtiest ever emoji combinations to be careful of have been revealed.

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