(NASA/JPL-Caltech via SWNS)
By Dean Murray
Is there life on Mars? Or maybe just a turtle?
A bizarre picture taken by a rover on the Red Planet appears to show what looks like a distinctive shelled reptile.
NASA’s Perseverance robot spotted the intriguing rock on Aug. 31 and stopped to snap a photograph.
(ESA/MPS et al. via SWNS)
It was exploring Jezero Crater, a roughly 45 km-wide ancient impact crater that once held a lake fed by a river delta, making it a prime site for searching for signs of past microbial life.
Online reaction to the “turtle” has included “Mars rocks never fail to surprise-Perseverance keeps finding strange shapes,” and “Wild to think we’re seeing rocks on another planet in such detail.”
It comes in the week the space agency announced they may have found clues to life on Mars in another rock.
Scientists are excited by a sample nicknamed Sapphire Canyon, as its distinctive spotted pattern suggests it may have organic origins.