One of the most recent pictures beamed back from the rover shows a doorway that looks like it was carved out of the rocks.
The doorway is so convincing that we are almost tempted to believe that it leads to a hideaway for Martians or a portal to another Universe. We are also getting a tunnel to the center of the planet.
The picture and geological feature it captured would seem to be enough to inspire a science-fiction movie or two.
The rock is door-like. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
The more sensible people of the internet have pointed out that this could be a shearFracture, the result of some kind of strain on the rock breaking part of it off.
The largest temblor recorded on the red planet so far happened on May 4 of this year, and scientists are still trying to figure out what caused it.
It is possible that the door-like rock formation is only a few centimeters or inches tall in real life, though it is difficult to be certain.
There is a bigger, colorized version of the picture here. The doorway shape is to the left of the center of the image.
The image was taken by the Mast Camera on board the vehicle.
In the years that we have had access to close-ups of Mars, we have been treated to some truly weird and wonderful snapshots of the red planet: craters filled with ice and strange rock formations.
It is important that we don't get carried away with what images can sometimes suggest, in terms of spooky discoveries in space that appear to resemble alien structures.
The Yutu 2 rover spotted a cube-shaped object on the Moon last year. The alien hut was simply a rock with tricks of light and perspective giving it its shape.
We think that the mystery doorway will eventually have an explanation that is just as ordinary.
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