The "little man from Mars"

"It's a little alien walking among the rocks of Mars..."

NASA's Spirit and Opportunity probes (launched in 2003) have provided spectacular images of the surface of Mars. Far exceeding their useful life expectancy, the small rovers have continued their successful exploration which, among other discoveries, has provided strong evidence that Mars once had a vast ocean of liquid water.

While Opportunity is descending into Victoria Crater, Spirit is in a rocky area called 'Home Plate' (for its resemblance to the last base in baseball), inside Gusev Crater. However, a photo of Spirit released on January 3, 2008 has captured the attention of the whole world, because in one area there appears what seems to be a "silhouette", "little man" or "humanoid" whose implication is clear: it would confirm the existence of life on Mars. Let's look at the facts:

Pseudoscience says...

This image is fascinating! I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw what looks like a naked alien running across Mars. This image would be from a NASA mission and in it a mysterious humanoid-looking shape appears. The images were found on a Chinese website and are said to be photos that NASA kept hidden from the public. Now it is confirmed, there is life on Mars!

Science says...

As noted, the rovers Spirit and Opportunity The Martian rovers have been a resounding success for scientists. Initially, they were given a lifespan of only 90 days, but the exploration vehicles have already been in operation (as of early 2008) for 4 years. The Martian terrain has been studied in detail and spectacular views of the surface have been obtained. And it was precisely one of these views that sparked the controversy, due to a formation that apparently shows the head, torso and arm of a "little man" walking (judging by the position of the "arm"). According to the background information gathered, the news first appeared in this article. japanese blog(translated to English here), and later as official news in a British newspaper article Daily Mail: Life on Mars? Amazing photos from NASA probe reveal mystery figure on Red Planet ("Life on Mars? Stunning NASA photos reveal mysterious figure on the Red Planet.")