Debris left on Mars by humans should be treated as historical artifacts

Are human spacecraft and landers on Mars just space trash, or are they artifacts of historical importance?

University of Kansas anthropologist Justin Holcomb argues that the remnants of human exploration on Mars deserve preservation.

These objects, Holcomb suggests, mark a pivotal moment in human history – our first steps into interplanetary exploration.

Holcomb’s new paper, titled “Emerging Archaeological Record of Mars,” makes the case for viewing Mars exploration debris as heritage rather than litter.

Material footprint of human exploration

“Our main argument is that Homo sapiens are currently undergoing a dispersal, which first started out of Africa, reached other continents and has now begun in off-world environments,” Holcomb explained.

“We’ve started peopling the solar system. And just like we use artifacts and features to track our movement, evolution and history on Earth, we can do that in outer space by following probes, satellites, landers and various materials left behind.”

Holcomb sees a “material footprint” of human exploration on Mars. Much like ancient middens – garbage dumps studied by archaeologists on Earth – space debris tells a story. These objects, deemed “space trash” by some, hold immense archaeological value.

“These are the first material records of our presence, and that’s important to us. I’ve seen a lot of scientists referring to this material as space trash, galactic litter,” Holcomb noted.

“Our argument is that it’s not trash; it’s actually really important. It’s critical to shift that narrative towards heritage because the solution to trash is removal, but the solution to heritage is preservation. There’s a big difference.”

Planning future missions to preserve artifacts

To preserve these artifacts, the team from University of Kansas urges future missions to consider landing locations carefully.

“Missions to other planets must consider this in their planning,” noted Holcomb. “They won’t land in areas that could disturb these sites. They’ll think about them differently than just trash lying around.”

This perspective introduces new academic and practical challenges. Holcomb explained that tracking humanity’s presence on Mars requires studying its stratigraphy – the layers of soil and artifacts left over time.

New archaeological record on Mars

Holcomb’s research expands on earlier work, where he advocated for recognizing a “lunar anthropocene” – a period marking human impact on the Moon.

While Mars may not yet have a defined “anthropocene,” Holcomb argues it already has an archaeological record. Preserving it could allow us to place artifacts within a structured timeline of human exploration.

The first major event in this record dates back to 1971, when the Soviet Union’s Mars 2 rover crash-landed on the planet.

“The Mars 2 crash represents one of the first times our species touched another planet – not a celestial body, because that was the Moon,” said Holcomb. “But the Mars 2 crash is the first time our species left a preserved imprint on the surface of another planet.”

Challenge of preserving artifacts on Mars

Unlike Earth, Mars presents unique challenges for preserving and studying artifacts. Holcomb emphasized the need for a new field: planetary geoarchaeology. This discipline would explore how Martian conditions affect artifacts over time.

“That field is called geoarchaeology – specifically, the field that studies geological effects on archaeological materials,” Holcomb said.

“Planetary geoarchaeology is a future field for sure, and we need to consider the materials not only on Mars in general but also in various places on Mars, which have different processes.”

Martian factors threaten artifact preservation

Mars’s cryosphere, iron-rich sands, and massive dust storms are major factors that threaten the preservation of artifacts.

“For example, Mars has a cryosphere in the northern and southern latitudes, so ice action there will increase the alteration of materials much more rapidly,” Holcomb explained.

“With Mars’s iron-rich sands – what happens when materials get buried? The most obvious issue is burial by large dune sands. Mars has global dust storms, which are unique. A single storm can literally travel across the entire globe.”

“On top of that, there are local dust storms. The Spirit Rover, for example, is right next to an encroaching dune field that will eventually bury it.”

Once buried, locating artifacts becomes extremely difficult. This highlights the urgency of creating a systematic approach to track and preserve these materials.

Creating a preservation database

Holcomb proposes establishing a methodology for tracking and cataloguing human material on Mars. This could be achieved using existing systems, such as the U.N. Register of Objects Launched into Outer Space (UNOOSA). He emphasizes that each artifact, no matter how small, is historically significant.

“If this material is heritage, we can create databases that track where it’s preserved, all the way down to a broken wheel on a rover or a helicopter blade, which represents the first helicopter on another planet,” Holcomb said.

“These artifacts are very much like hand axes in East Africa or Clovis points in America. They represent the first presence and, from an archaeological perspective, they are key points in our historical timeline of migration.”

Trash or treasure?

Holcomb’s work challenges us to rethink what we call “space trash.” These artifacts document humanity’s expansion onto Mars and in space overall. They are more than debris – they are the first chapters in our species’ journey beyond Earth.

Future missions must carefully plan to avoid disturbing these important sites. By cataloguing and preserving these artifacts, we ensure that future generations can study and appreciate humanity’s interplanetary history.

“There’s a material footprint to this dispersal,” noted Holcomb. Recognizing its value now could shape how we view our exploration of the solar system for centuries to come.

The study is published in the journal Nature Astronomy.

Image Credit: Justin Holcomb

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