Conspiracy theorists strongly believe that alien life might have once been present on Mars. In their efforts to substantiate their views, they often point out several anomalies in NASA images of the Red Planet. Self-proclaimed researchers like Scott C Waring argue that extraterrestrial life forms might still be present on Mars. He blames NASA for being involved in an alleged coverup.
Is there life on Mars?
One of the primary objectives of NASA's Mars missions is to figure out whether life, at least in its microbial form, has thrived on the Red Planet. In an operational period spanning more than 2,700 days, NASA's Curiosity Rover successfully sent several images taken from the surface of the Red Planet. The images clearly indicate that the earth's neighbor is a barren land without any trace of life.
However, in the Martian images, conspiracy theorists have several times spotted what they see as mindblowing anomalies that include a thigh-bone like structure lying down on the surface of Mars. The discovery was made by Waring, and he believes that such strange findings and fossil-like structures could be proof of alien presence on Mars.
Even though NASA has not reacted officially to Waring's findings, several space experts argue that the discoveries of the researcher could be cases of pareidolia.
As Waring's discoveries attract criticism from several corners, some study reports suggest that Waring could in fact be right when it comes to alien presence on the Red Planet. A recent study report published in the journal Nature has suggested that there were active river systems on Mars in ancient days, and the Red Planet has the right conditions to harbor life.
"The more we look for evidence of water and clement environments in the geological record of Mars's ancient past, the more we find it. I am 100 percent convinced that parts of Mars were once more than suitable for life to thrive in – whether life ever started on Mars is a different question – the BIG question that we are all trying to answer," Dr Matt Balme, senior lecturer in the Planetary Environments Research Group at The Open University, told Express.co.uk.
Alien microbes or advanced beings?
According to conspiracy theorists, alien beings that might be living or might have lived on Mars could be an advanced life form. However, current scientific research indicates that the possibilities of little green men living on the Red Planet are pretty low. Future missions to Mars may discover alien microbes living on or under the surface of the Red Planet.
Recently, Scott Hubbard, a Stanford professor of aeronautics and astronautics, had suggested that alien microbes that might be living on Mars could contaminate earth in the future, as astronauts who visited the Red Planet return to the blue planet. He also urged space agencies to make astronauts live in quarantine for a specific period of time to avoid a possible virus outbreak.
The predictions made by Dr Jim Green back this assumption. Green, who is a chief scientist at NASA, believes that alien life in the microbial form will be discovered on Mars by 2021. He added that humanity is not prepared to accept the realities of alien life.
