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MARTIAN MYSTERY?

Wreckage on Mars that looks like a ‘flying saucer made by ALIENS’ revealed

YOU could be fooled into thinking this wreckage on Mars is a crashed UFO belonging to aliens - but it's actually Nasa's mess.

The shocking photo shows the smashed backshell used to safely land kit on the Red Planet last year.

Mars wreckage spotted - and it's not a UFO
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Mars wreckage spotted - and it's not a UFOCredit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Thankfully, the Perseverance Mars rover and Ingenuity helicopter did not meet the same fate.

In fact, it was Ingenuity that took the snap last week and sent it back to Earth.

You might also be able to spot the parachute that was used, spread out in the background.

The descent to the Red Planet is a terrifyingly complex one, as experts face the dreaded 'seven minutes of terror'.

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During this tense final stage, the spacecraft travels through Mars' atmosphere at an incredible 12,000mph through scorching temperatures and has only 400 seconds or so to reduce the velocity right down to less than 1m/s.

So scientists want to study the remains in preparation for a future mission, where they intend to bring rock from Mars back to Earth.

Surprisingly, they don't think the parachute's canopy has any signs of damage.

“Perseverance had the best-documented Mars landing in history, with cameras showing everything from parachute inflation to touchdown," said Ian Clark, from Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

"But Ingenuity’s images offer a different vantage point.

"If they either reinforce that our systems worked as we think they worked or provide even one dataset of engineering information we can use for Mars Sample Return planning, it will be amazing.

"And if not, the pictures are still phenomenal and inspiring."

However, the photos have also drawn criticism, with some on social media slamming the space agency for leaving litter in space.

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"Damn Earthlings, always leaving trash about," one person said.

"We weren’t satisfied with just trashing our own planet," another added.

Wider view of the landing site
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Wider view of the landing siteCredit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

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