From the beginnings of telescopic observations of Mars, humanity has speculated whether life could have started on the Red Planet and what it might resemble. Notorious alien life conspiracy theorist Scott Waring believes he has now finally settled the question about releasing an image purporting to show an alien creature on Mars.
The image was shot by the NASA Mars Curiosity Rover on Sol 1448.
Mr Waring took to his etdatabase.com site to speculate about the apparent alien anomaly.
The UFO enthusiast wrote: “While looking through Sol 1448 of Mars, I noticed a strange creature on the hillside.
“The object seems to be a species of lizard, but unlike anything we have here on Earth.”
The Viking spacecraft had an array of sophisticated experiments to detect metabolism and organic molecules.
The negative results from these experiments resulted in considerable pessimism that continued through the 1980s concerning the prospects for finding alien life.
However, several factors have subsequently contributed to a more optimistic view.
These include the recognition that alien life can survive in a far wider range of conditions than was formerly thought possible, including near deep-sea vents at temperatures well over 1,000C (1,800F), in basaltic rocks deep below the surface, and in other extreme environments.
Additionally, the knowledge Earth life started very quickly, possibly before the end of heavy bombardment, possibly indicates the origin of life is not an extremely low-probability event.
Instead, life could instead likely follow if the right conditions are present.
Another cause for optimism is mounting evidence that conditions on early Mars, when life arose on Earth, were Earth-like.
Finally, there is growing recognition of Earth and Mars having similar materials.
More than 30 pieces of Mars have been found on Earth, despite the difficulty of distinguishing Mars rocks from Earth rocks.
Therefore, during a period of heavy bombardment, when life may have already started on Earth and conditions on Mars were Earth-like, pieces of Earth may have been transported to Mars.
