<ul><li>Anthropologists argue that it’s time to document our Martian artifacts so we can preserve our history.</li><li>Artifacts of the human effort to explore the planet are littered on Mars's surface.</li><li>14 missions to Mars have left their mark on the red planet in the form of artifacts.</li><li>Other features include rover tracks and rover drilling and sampling sites.</li><li>It's time to take Martian archaeology seriously, say anthropologists.</li><li>There exists no systematic strategy for documenting, mapping, and tracking all heritage on Mars.</li><li>They argue that our spacecraft debris is the archaeological record of our attempt to explore not just Mars but the entire Solar System.</li><li>The authors say there’s a crucial need to preserve Neil Armstrong’s first footsteps on the Moon and the USSR’s Venera 7 mission.</li><li>It will take a lot of work and many discussions to determine what this preservation and future exploration can look like.</li><li>The discussions could begin by acknowledging the emerging archaeological record on Mars.</li></ul>

Archaeology On Mars: Preserving Artifacts of Our Expansion Into the Solar System

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