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'Most bizarre rock' on Mars fuels speculations of alien spaceship crash

Scientists say the unusual spikes on the Martian surface are unlikely to be space debris, even though they add that the extraterrestrial angle could not be ruled out with certainty

Mysterious markings on a rock on Mars have triggered speculation that an alien spaceship could have crashed on the Red Planet. Scientists say the unusual spikes on the Martian surface are unlikely to be space debris, even though they have added that the extraterrestrial angle could not be ruled out with certainty.

The marks were spotted in a photo of Mars’ Gale Crater taken by US space agency NASA’s Curiosity Rover in April, with the image showing spikes and thorn-like formations on a rock. According to astrobiologist Dr Nathalie A Cabrol, it was the “most bizarre rock” she had seen in 20 years of studying Mars.

A new study published in the Journal of Astrobiology this month has suggested that the formations could be “sand spikes” that may have formed due to seismic activity. At the same, scientists who took part in the study also stated that “a fragment from an extraterrestrial or terrestrial space craft cannot be discounted with absolute certainty”.

According to the paper, the rock was photographed by the "Mastcam" and "Chemcam" of the Curiosity Rover. The protrusions seen in it “follow horizons of bedding in the sedimentary rocks and have a variety of morphologies including "spike-like", blunt "wedge-like", "plate-like", or "serrated' protrusions”.

Scientists said that the markings sparked speculation that the spikes were debris from a saucer-shaped extraterrestrial spacecraft. The study pointed out that the formation is less likely to be the remnant of a Mars orbiter or any other terrestrial craft as “there is no apparent analog to any Mars-bound equipment and no evidence of a debris field”.

But the authors also added that they cannot entirely rule out the possibility that a spaceship crashed at the site, especially because fragments that appeared to be “wheels, an axle and a cratered debris” have been spotted in another location in the Gale Crater.

A possible explanation behind the formation, according to the authors, suggests that it is a type of sand concretion called “sand spike”, which is formed in the presence of water, sand, and seismic activity.

“There is no way of proving for certain what the spikes are but the balance of the evidence would suggest ‘sand spikes’ resulting from seismic activity on Mars,” Prof Richard Armstrong, of Aston University, Birmingham, told The Telegraph. He is also the first author of the study.

He said the “enigmatic wheels” could be a “separate phenomenon” adding that images of Mars often show formations and features that look like “familiar objects”.

The professor also highlighted that “any debris field on Mars would certainly suffer erosion over time, especially from wind”.

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