Space & Astronomy

Unusual 'structure' on surface of Mars sparks conspiracy theories

By T.K. Randall
April 7, 2025 ·  11 comments

What exactly is this on the surface of Mars ? Image Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech Ever since the infamous 'Face on Mars' was spotted in the planet's Cydonia region back in the 1970s by NASA's Viking orbiters, the possibility that there could have once been an intelligent civilization on the Red Planet has become the subject of much speculation and debate.

While modern imagery demonstrated that the alleged face was little more than a rocky mesa that happened to look like a face from a certain angle, this hasn't stopped eagle-eyed sleuths from spending hours scouring NASA's orbital imagery of Mars for signs of other anomalies.

This latest example, which was found in images captured back in 2011 by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), shows a keyhole-shaped feature that some now claim to be an artificially constructed building on the planet's surface.

"You don't have to be a geologist to know the difference between a rock and a sculpture," George J. Haas - founder of Mars research group The Cydonia Institute - told Mail Online.

"There's no way you can explain that keyhole formation. The natural creation of two opposing geometrically designed formations seems to go well beyond the probability of chance."But is this really true ?

Over the years we've seen countless examples of weird things on Mars that have turned out to have mundane explanations. Most of these can be attributed to pareidolia - the brain's innate tendency to perceive meaningful shapes in otherwise abstract patterns.

Arguably, there is nothing particularly special about this latest example other than its vague resemblance to a recognizable shape.

So is it an artificial structure or simply another case of pareidolia ?

You decide.

Source: Lad Bible | Comments (11)

Tags: Mars