In August 2012, the Curiosity rover docked in the Gale Crater on Mars and started exploring the earth for evidence of past life. The rover made some serious discoveries during that period, incorporating evidence that the crater was earlier a huge lakebed and observing multiple methane spikes. The rover has furthermore taken impressions of numerous interesting terrain characteristics, several of which went viral after the images were shared with the world. Numerous times these photos have confirmed that the tradition of noticing faces or patterns in random objects is active and well when it comes to Mars.
The image was grabbed by Mast Camera onboard NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 3474. By May 26th, the picture started making the sessions after The SETI Institute tweeted about it and requested a possible justification for how the feature was established. As they clarified, the spikes were feasible to be “cemented filings of ancient fractures in a sedimentary rock” left-back when the surrounding rock, which was made of softer material, corroded away.
The tweet stimulated an explosion of suggestions and pet assumptions. An extremely interesting one is that they could be fulgurites, the tubes of glass discovered in sandy areas that form when lightning hits and make silica sand and rock blend. While this is a technical likelihood, it is highly improbable. While some study suggests that lightning could occur during dust storms as an outcome of atmospheric particles producing static electricity, lightning has never been identified on Mars.
