NASA's Curiosity Rover landed on Mars on 6 August 2012, at 05:17 UTC.
Ever since then it has been trundling around, taking pictures of the Martian surface and beaming them back to Earth.
There has been a lot of online speculation concerning many of these photographs.
Most of this speculation is childish, based on tricks of light and shadow creating 'objects' where there are none.
Most of this speculation comes from "UFO hunters" and science-fiction fans, ill-informed amateurs who would dearly love there to be evidence of some advanced civilization on Mars, past or contemporary.
But there is none. There is no evidence of any advanced life on Mars, or any sign that it has ever been present in any way.
However, four photographs from NASA Mars Rovers, when looked at together, strongly indicate that there may be reptile-like creatures on the Martian surface. Whether they would truly be 'reptiles' as we know them on Earth is another matter.
But we know how evolution works on Earth and since Mars was Earth-like many eons ago it would be natural to presume that evolution on Mars would have unfolded in similar ways.
This is a known phenomenon on Earth, called 'convergent evolution'. Evolutionary convergence refers to the fact that similar environments tend to produce similar creatures, even when contact between those environments or their creatures is impossible.
So it would not be entirely fanciful to suppose that any life surviving on Mars might resemble the life we find in Earth's arid deserts. Both environments are hostile: barren; without rainfall; and with extreme fluctuations in temperature.
And on Earth, the creatures best-equipped to survive and flourish in arid deserts are reptiles, specifically lizards and snakes.
The four photographs reproduced on this website aren't conclusive proof of convergent evolution on Earth and Mars. Such proof could only be found if humans visited Mars.
Three of them are from NASA's ongoing Curiosity mission. The fourth is from an earlier mission, that of NASA's Spirit Rover.
If regarded individually, the photographs might be considered amenable to mundane explanations.
But when considered together, those four photographs appear to have great potential significance.
Ever since then it has been trundling around, taking pictures of the Martian surface and beaming them back to Earth.
There has been a lot of online speculation concerning many of these photographs.
Most of this speculation is childish, based on tricks of light and shadow creating 'objects' where there are none.
Most of this speculation comes from "UFO hunters" and science-fiction fans, ill-informed amateurs who would dearly love there to be evidence of some advanced civilization on Mars, past or contemporary.
But there is none. There is no evidence of any advanced life on Mars, or any sign that it has ever been present in any way.
However, four photographs from NASA Mars Rovers, when looked at together, strongly indicate that there may be reptile-like creatures on the Martian surface. Whether they would truly be 'reptiles' as we know them on Earth is another matter.
But we know how evolution works on Earth and since Mars was Earth-like many eons ago it would be natural to presume that evolution on Mars would have unfolded in similar ways.
This is a known phenomenon on Earth, called 'convergent evolution'. Evolutionary convergence refers to the fact that similar environments tend to produce similar creatures, even when contact between those environments or their creatures is impossible.
So it would not be entirely fanciful to suppose that any life surviving on Mars might resemble the life we find in Earth's arid deserts. Both environments are hostile: barren; without rainfall; and with extreme fluctuations in temperature.
And on Earth, the creatures best-equipped to survive and flourish in arid deserts are reptiles, specifically lizards and snakes.
The four photographs reproduced on this website aren't conclusive proof of convergent evolution on Earth and Mars. Such proof could only be found if humans visited Mars.
Three of them are from NASA's ongoing Curiosity mission. The fourth is from an earlier mission, that of NASA's Spirit Rover.
If regarded individually, the photographs might be considered amenable to mundane explanations.
But when considered together, those four photographs appear to have great potential significance.
This site created: 24 October 2016