of all the planets in the solar system
besides earth none has been explored
quite so thoroughly or continuously as
the red planet mars so much so that by
now we've grown accustomed to seeing
those grainy ethereal images of a
literal alien world taken by any one of
the various rovers that have traveled
its surface over the years but every now
and then an image is beamed back from
mars that gains more attention than
usual and this latest shot has certainly
roused a long-standing extraterrestrial
debate this is unveiled and today we're
answering the extraordinary question did
scientists just discover a doorway on
mars
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for decades now mars has been subject to
numerous alien conspiracy theories in
the vastness of space this world is
earth's next door neighbor so it's easy
to see why humankind has been so
enamored with it over the years and why
our species having realized the
likelihood that aliens exist might then
expect them to have set up home on the
next planet along from us because why
not and while there are various argued
reasons as to why mars wouldn't make a
good home for life the possibility that
some form of something could be eeking
out in existence up there has never
really disappeared it's not surprising
then that a recently published nasa
image seeming to show a doorway cut into
a rock face on mars has breathed new
life into alien ideas the image in
question was captured by the curiosity
rover which has been operational on mars
since august 2012 and there's no doubt
that there's cause for at least a double
take not only does the image show a near
perfect rectangular opening in the
surrounding rock but there also appears
to be a path to that opening and layered
rock to the side of it as if to provide
some camouflage it looks as though you
could simply walk through the doorway
into the rock face where inside there
could supposedly be all kinds of alien
activity going on otherwise hidden from
view it could just as well double up as
a set on a science fiction movie but we
know that this image really was taken on
mars it's not a fake what it shows is
really there but still scientists have
quickly pointed out that what we're
actually seeing isn't really a door
instead it's merely an ordinary and
quite expected rock formation created
over millions perhaps billions of years
worth of deep geological and natural
processes it's broadly said to be the
result of cracks in the rock face that
have split and opened over martian
history to form something that in this
case looks uncannily like it must have
been carved by intelligent hand the true
size of what we're seeing is also a
sticking point however as although it
may at first appear to be roughly the
same size as most standard doorways as
we know them this doorway is actually
less than two feet tall of course as yet
nobody knows the dimensions that alien
life might take and there's reason to
think that it wouldn't be human-like
despite what most sci-fi films imply but
the general point is that this opening
is actually quite a small one and it's
perhaps then even easier to imagine that
it could have been created via natural
processes only in fact scientists say
that really it's not even reliant on
specifically martian conditions with the
same or similar formations known to have
formed on earth as well it's also been
suggested that the nearby separate piece
of rock in the image is important as it
may have been what became dislodged to
create the shape that we see now as to
the possibility that the doorway was
created via a mars quake most analysts
and commentators have erred towards not
likely again it's variously argued that
features like the doorway are often seen
on earth as well and a regular
earthquake isn't needed to form them
ultimately the almost universal
scientific conclusion on this image is
that one way or another erosion is to
blame but still there's no denying that
what's presented here is peculiar it's
unlike anything we've ever noticed so
far on mars and whatever the size and
explanation it does look very door-like
on the one hand it's a measure of how
far our technology has come that a
remote machine like curiosity can
trundle over unknown terrain more than
30 million miles away from us and beam
back zoomed in images like this of
particular details but on the other this
snapshot is another reminder of how far
we've yet to go before we can truly
begin to understand the solar system the
doorway is perhaps the most startling is
it alien photo of mars since the famous
face on mars taken by nasa's viking one
orbiter in 1976 a photo from above it
appeared to show a humanoid face etched
into the martian surface however in this
case it has long been known that the
face isn't a face but is in fact a
perfectly natural hill those first
photos from the 70s were low resolution
so when the same area was photographed
later with much higher resolution
cameras the face like qualities of it
all but dissolved away and the alien
theories thinned out as well the new
doorway image will likely never melt
away in the same manner as again it is a
true representation of what's really
there the cameras on curiosity are far
more superior to those that were on
viking and while they may well be
improved again in the future this rock
formation will likely remain precisely
as it is for a long long time on earth
geologists refer to a concept known as
deep time as they deal with a time scale
for the planet that's much much larger
than the time scale of human lives while
we tend to think in minutes hours days
and weeks a geologist needs to grapple
with whole epochs periods eras and eons
huge chunks of time from our perspective
spanning hundreds of millions of years
and really it's no different on mars if
the doorway is a natural feature as
almost all claim that it is then it too
will have likely taken thousands or
millions of years to reach the point
that it is now clearly we don't yet have
quite so reliable in understanding of
the processes on mars as we do on earth
but we do know that most physical
changes on the planet still unfold far
more slowly than our own lives do so the
doorway that actually probably isn't a
doorway is here to stay and until
curiosity captures a follow-up image
showing an extraterrestrial head peeking
out from inside perhaps checking to see
whether it's been spotted by that
earth-made machine on its doorstep then
the consensus will always be that it
doesn't mean that aliens are on mars it
just means that rock has eroded and
that's not all that unusual but what's
your verdict on this image in whichever
way you understand it it's certainly an
incredible picture it's an image taken
by a machine the curiosity rover that
was launched off of this planet back in
november 2011 an eight and a half month
transit followed as curiosity traveled
through the solar system to mars before
successfully landing and starting its
pioneering journey across the martian
surface in the time since it has sent
back plenty of images including more
than a few self-portraits all of which
have helped us to turn mars into a more
recognizable world than it ever was
before this planet is still a definitely
alien place but curiosity has enabled us
to see it in a new and increasingly less
mysterious light it's one reason why
scientists can now look at an image like
the one of the doorway and put forward
strong explanations for what it is that
we're seeing
with the face on mars the wrong
conclusions were reached mostly because
the technology as amazing as it was
couldn't yet capture mars in detail but
here we have everything we need we just
need to make sense of it and while it
being a unique insight into the deep
time geology of mars perhaps isn't quite
so immediately as exciting as it being
proof of extraterrestrial intelligence
the former explanation is at present
widely favored above the ladder and
that's why although scientists have
discovered a doorway of sorts on mars
it's not thought to be alien made
what do you think is there anything we
missed let us know in the comments check
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