By Vania Raebel | October 4, 2019
Humans are fascinated by all things outer space. And why shouldn’t we be? The idea that there is so much more to be discovered outside our planet is truly amazing. And while humans have made huge advancements in technology, there is so much we are yet to learn about the boundless expanse that is our universe. One of the most wonderful achievements science has made to date is landing the aptly named Curiosity rover on Mars. This remarkable robot was then set free to explore our neighboring planet’s environmental conditions, geology, water conditions, and planet habitability.
What should have been a two-year mission got extended indefinitely, and now we have Curiosity (and other rovers) to thank for the strange and interesting close-up shots they sent back from the red planet. One image of a seemingly crab-shaped object seen on Mars generated an incredible amount of social media buzz, with many highly imaginative people speculating that there is life on the planet. Exciting as this may seem, the image was actually just that of a deceptively-shaped rock formation.
The “Mars crab” and many other strange snaps caught by Curiosity await you…
In 1976, NASA’s Viking 1 Orbiter zoomed in on Mars, enabling it to take this iconic picture of the planet’s surface. Since its release, people have been enthusiastically talking about the face-shaped rock formation found in the upper-middle portion of the image. You don’t need to look closely to see that the face even has a set of eyes, a nose, and a mouth. Some even surmise that the face looks a little bit like a young Elvis Presley. With its distinct facial features, many believe that it is too precise to be a coincidence and that the rock formation may actually have been built by Martians.
The Face on Mars, Unmasked
For decades, people fussed over the curious rock formation caught by the Viking 1 Orbiter, causing theories that there is indeed life on Mars to proliferate. NASA was not going to let this issue go without a concrete explanation, and was determined to get more answers.
In 2001, the issue was finally put to an end when the Mars Global Surveyor took a more detailed snap of the facial formation, as seen above. With higher resolution and sharper detail than the 1976 photo was capable of, sadly, the iconic face is nowhere to be found: only a blobby oval shaped mesa, and not an alien-built altar to Elvis.
