It's not unusual for NASA's Mars rovers to encounter UFOs on the Red Planet from time to time. A few days ago, a strange speckled rock had researchers baffled, and before that another special stone block had experts feverish. However, the recent discovery of the Mars rover Perseverance borders on science fiction, as it is believed to have discovered a human-like face in the planet's rocky sea. UFO believers may have been excited by this news, but there is a logical explanation for Mars' human-like face.
Image: Science Image Library via AFP
Why did a NASA robot see a human head on Mars?
The body, which resembles the head of the statue, was so well received by the audience that… It was chosen as his photo of the week On the official NASA website. However, from a scientific point of view, the rock is not very interesting, in terms of its composition it does not differ from traditional Martian stone blocks. But why does it look like a human head? The answer may be disappointing to many: it's just our minds playing tricks on us.
Pareidolia has evolutionary reasons for its existence; Those first people who discovered the shape of a lion hiding in the forest in time had a better chance of escaping and surviving. And those who could not quickly detect the predator's distinctive “pattern” ended up as dinner and could no longer pass on their genes. If it turned out that the lion-like figure was actually a rock or something else, there wouldn't be much of a problem except fear.
So pareidolia was for survival.
The Perseverance rover continues to search for life on Mars
The Perseverance rover arrived at Mars in February 2021. It landed at the bottom of the ancient lake of the Jezero crater, and its purpose is to search for traces of ancient life with its complex array of instruments. The robot will also collect samples, but they will be brought to Earth as part of another mission; NASA and the European Space Agency are planning two joint missions to bring the samples back home.
