Scientists have spent decades scouring the Martian surface for any signs of life.
Now, a photo snapped by NASA‘s Curiosity rover has sparked speculation that the hunt might finally be over.
A picture taken from the Martian surface appears to show a ‘mushroom’ growing on the Red Planet.
The strange discovery has led some alien hunters to declare: ‘Life…has been found!’
The photo was taken by the Curiosity rover on September 19, 2013, but was spotted in the archives by UFO hunter Scott Waring.
Mr Waring says: ‘This object has a curved bottom part of a stem, same as those on Earth.
‘I’m not sure how or why NASA could overlook such a thing… since NASA’s mission is to find life on other planets and moons.’
However, scientists say there is a much simpler explanation.
A photo taken by NASA’s Curiosity rover has sparked speculation after appearing to capture a mushroom growing on the Red Planet
Alien hunters have seized on the strange structure, claiming it as evidence of life on Mars
NASA’s Curiosity rover was launched to Mars in 2011 with the goal of discovering whether the planet had the right conditions to support microscopic life.
To help this search, the rover is equipped with multiple cameras, a drill to gather rock samples, and sets of tools to analyse the chemical compositions of samples.
However, despite a decade of searching, Curiosity has never found any evidence that Mars is or ever was home to any form of alien life.
But that hasn’t stopped wild speculation following many of the rover’s discoveries.
Following his discovery of this archived image, Mr Waring claims that the rocky structure is a mushroom that has ‘clearly pushed up out of the Mars dirt.’
He adds: ‘NASA should have poked it, bumped it, knocked it over, cut it open with their tools on Curiosity rover or at least use that million-dollar laser they burn rocks and dirt with.’
And Mr Waring isn’t the only one who agrees. Commenters on social media flocked to share their support for his claims.
One wrote: Looks like a mushroom to me! NASA know far more about MARS than they let on.’
However, despite having a similar shape to some fungi, scientists say that there is a simple explanation for these images (stock image)
Online, the images of Martian ‘mushrooms’ started a flurry of speculation as users claimed that it ‘looks like a mushroom to me’
Scientists have found no evidence that life exists or ever has existed on Mars. But there is good evidence that the planet does contain water
While another boldly claimed: ‘What people fail to realize is if life is found on just one other planet in the solar system, then that basically means there is life everywhere in the Universe mathematically.’
However, scientists are not convinced by this supposed evidence.
Dr Gareth Dorrian, a planetary physicist from the University of Birmingham, told MailOnline that this is simply a ‘flat roughly disc-shaped rock sitting atop a smaller stone at the bottom.’
‘My best guess would be they were not originally in that position, but like two rocks lying in the desert, one just below the surface and the other on the surface above it,’ he explained.
‘Over time the wind could gradually blow the sand and dust away and the top one would gradually settle onto the bottom one.’
Dr Dorrian points out that wind-driven processes like this on Earth often produce remarkable and strange formations.
Alternatively, these ‘mushrooms’ could be geological structures called concretions, which formed billions of years ago when there was liquid water on Mars.
As water flows through sediment, it dissolves the minerals and rearranges them in a more compact form to leave behind a solid block.
This is not the first time that scientists have found a ‘mushroom on Mars’. However, these are just a type of geological feature called a concretion (pictured top right)
Since these are harder than the surrounding rock, they are often left standing above the surface.
Just like the hoodoo rock spires of the American southwest, these structures often take on a mushroom-like shape as the wind carves away the softer bedrock to leave a thin ‘stem’.
Part of the reason that Curiosity didn’t stop to take any more measurements, as Mr Waring suggests, is that these are common on the Martian surface.
Additionally, Dr Dorrian points out that, even if there were life on Mars, the chances of a living organism being found on the Martian surface are extremely low.
The atmospheric pressure at the Martian surface is roughly equivalent to that found 20 miles above the surface of Earth, meaning the atmosphere is very thin.
This allows a constant stream of ultraviolet and particle radiation in the form of cosmic rays to bombard the surface.
Dr Dorrian says: ‘This unhealthy combination of radiation is well known to damage complex molecules like DNA and would quickly sterilise the surface where this image was taken.’
As if that wasn’t bad enough, Dr Dorrian notes that temperature above ground would make it impossible for any organism to survive.
Concretions formed on Mars billions of years ago when water flowed through the sediment and left behind hard blocks of material that resisted being weathered by the wind
These same processes are responsible for the formation of the Hoodoo pillars in the American Southwest which also often have a mushroom-like shape
Temperatures swing from a comfortable 20°C (68°F) during the day to -100°C (-148°F) at night, well below the freezing point of water and far colder than anywhere on Earth.
‘No known forms of life can simultaneously tolerate these extremes of temperatures, radiation levels, and low atmospheric pressure, including mushrooms,’ says Dr Dorrian.
‘If life does exist on Mars, it is more likely to be found below ground, such as in underground reserves of water, where it would be shielded from the harsh environment at the surface.’
That means this photograph almost certainly shows a common and naturally occurring rock formation, rather than life growing in an impossibly harsh environment.
