A recent photo of what appears to be a doorway on the surface of Mars went viral after it was captured by NASA’s Curiosity rover.
The photograph, while grainy, shows a doorlike rectangular entrance in the planet’s rock face that has some suggesting it’s the doorway to alien life, according to a report.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Via Marca:
The belief that intelligent life exists on other planets has been the subject of constant debate for years – some assert that it is possible for extraterrestrial beings to exist elsewhere in the universe as a matter of probability.
NASA, for its part, has carried out countless investigations to try to find traces that determine if there was or is any intelligent civilization on planets close to Earth.
On this occasion, Mars is the protagonist due to several photographs captured by the Mastcam camera on board the Curiosity rover, which has been on the red planet for more than a decade.
There is controversy over the photos
The photographs captured on May 7 show what appears to be a door carved to perfection in the rocky surface of the planet. And although this generated much surprise from people on social networks and forums such as Reddit in which they talked about this being proof of extraterrestrial life, NASA has given a scientific explanation to the curious phenomenon.
Stuart Atkinson on X (formerly Twitter): “No @MarsCuriosity *hasn’t* found a “secret door” on Mars leading to a martian chamber, tomb or shopping mall. It’s just a fracture in the ancient rock, barely big enough for a cat to squeeze through. You can even see the back if you zoom in. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/fredk/S Atkinson pic.twitter.com/JEVWxgn93f / X”
No @MarsCuriosity *hasn’t* found a “secret door” on Mars leading to a martian chamber, tomb or shopping mall. It’s just a fracture in the ancient rock, barely big enough for a cat to squeeze through. You can even see the back if you zoom in. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/fredk/S Atkinson pic.twitter.com/JEVWxgn93f
NASA scientists attributed the origin of the “extraterrestrial door”, as some have called it, to the seismic movements that occur on the planet.
The experts assure that earthquakes are very common on the planet, and the last one recorded was on May 4, which could have caused the formation of the “door”.
It is a natural movement called “shear fracture”, which caused the rock to accumulate stress from seismic movements and eventually break.
Via Washington Examiner:
Scientists, however, argue there is a simple explanation for the apparent doorway.
It is due to “normal geological processes,” according to professor Sanjeev Gupta at Imperial College London.What conspiracy theorists are calling a “door” is actually a naturally occurring fracture that can be seen elsewhere on Mars and Earth said Gupta, who has worked on the Curiosity mission with NASA.
“The crack is a fracture, and they are abundant on Mars and Earth — no need for marsquakes to produce them,” Gupta said. “There is nothing at all strange in the image — these are just normal geological processes.”
The fracture, which could be millions of years old, is also a lot smaller than people realize, the report noted.
The crack appears large because the photo is heavily zoomed in, but it is no larger than 30 centimeters by 45 centimeters, according to a fact check.
