Mars is a dry, cold deserted wasteland with a thin atmosphere where liquid water is unable to exist on the surface, but some UFO hunters have claimed to have found evidence that it may have once been lush with green vegetation.
Eagle-eyed conspiracy theorists claimed to have found a tree stump on Mars, which they believe indicates there was once life on the red planet – ‘the petrified remnants of a Martian tree’.
The 3ft-high stump-like image was apparently spotted in footage taken by the Mars Curiosity Rover, which landed on the red plant in August 2012 and has so far covered just over nine miles.
Curiosity Rover is a car-sized robotic rover currently exploring Gale Crater on Mars as part of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory mission.
Paranormal Crucible posted the video on YouTube and wrote: “This object definitely looks out of place and in my opinion could be the petrified remnants of a Martian tree.
“Object is around 3 feet in height, and with numerous discoveries of plant and animal life on mars, it would be logical to assume, that a variety of tree either existed, or still exists on this enigmatic planet.”
However, a lot of people were not impressed by the discovery. One person commented: “Just an odd rock. Update me with something that’s actually interesting.”
Nasa has explained that the image was taken by the Mastcam onboard NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 1647 in March.
Although it may be just one of the many rocks found on the Red Planet, but still conspiracy theorists believe it could prove that life was present at some point. If trees still existed on Mars, it would need a good source of water to survive
NASA has previously answered whether plants could actually grow on Mars after the release of Matt Damon’s film Martian, in which he plays astronaut Mark Watney, who is trapped on the planet and grows his own vegetation to survive.
The piece states: “In ‘The Martian,’ Mark Watney uses the Martian soil to grow potatoes in the controlled environment of the “Hab.”
“In reality, the soil on Mars actually does have the nutrients plants would need to survive on Mars.
“There may not be the right amount of nutrients depending on where astronauts land on the Red Planet, so fertilizers may need to be added to the soil.
“The perchlorates in the soil would be leached out and separated from the water.
“NASA is developing a stimulant, a replication of Mars soil, to better understand how it can be used for plant growth and other purposes.”
