NASA’s Perseverance rover is scouring Mars for clues that microbial life may once have existed on the Red Planet.
However, one image captured by the rover has sparked speculation among some viewers that it may show remnants of an ancient, lost civilization.
UFO researcher Scott C. Waring shared the photograph online, highlighting its dramatic view of a Martian landscape scattered with massive boulders.
Waring drew particular attention to a distant rock formation that he believes could be an ancient gateway constructed by an unknown civilization.
In an enlarged version of the image, he circled a feature that appears to resemble a tall, narrow doorway set into a jagged rock face. Its dark interior, tapered upper section and irregular stone edges create what Waring described as a “portal.”
“I found some ancient runes in a Mars photo today,” Waring wrote on his website, UFO Sightings Daily.
He said another nearby formation also appeared to support his theory that an advanced civilization once existed on Mars.
“A tiny doorway that measures about 7 inches high and 5 inches wide and enters a pyramid-shaped object,” Waring claimed.
An image captured by NASA’s Perseverance rover has prompted speculation that it could show evidence of a lost civilization on Mars
UFO researcher Scott Waring shared the Martian landscape and identified what he believes may be an ancient portal among the rocks
Although the formations may look man-made at first glance, NASA has repeatedly stated that there is no confirmed evidence of extraterrestrial life.
The image is part of a mosaic showing boulders inside Jezero Crater, where Perseverance used its Mastcam-Z cameras to explore the terrain in June 2021.
The photograph is marked Sol 107, indicating the rover’s 107th Martian day during the mission.
Scientists consider Jezero Crater a major target in the search for ancient microbial life because the site contained a lake billions of years ago.
Waring’s UFO Sightings Daily website features numerous NASA images that he says reveal evidence of alien life.
In August, he posted another image taken by NASA’s Curiosity rover in May 2022, saying it appeared to contain a doorway.
That photograph seems to show a dark, rectangular opening in the side of a rocky hill—an unusual shape that some observers compared with the entrance to a primitive shelter.
“The entrance is approximately 6.6 feet tall and 3.3 feet wide, about the size of a doorway in an Earth home,” Waring said.
Waring also highlighted a rock formation that he believes resembles a doorway
He questioned why the rover had not moved closer to the feature and speculated that NASA might have examined it already without making the findings public.
Waring did not explain how he calculated the alleged doorway’s dimensions or provide evidence that the space agency conducted a secret investigation.
Its actual size cannot be reliably determined from the panorama alone without knowing its precise distance from Curiosity or identifying a nearby object that could provide scale.
In August, Waring posted a photo snapped by NASA’s Curiosity rover on Mars in May 2022, which Waring and many others were sure contained a doorway
The apparent entrance could therefore be significantly smaller, or larger, than Waring’s estimate.
NASA has not commented on the latest claim, but the agency addressed remarkably similar speculation after Curiosity photographed another door-shaped feature on Mars in May 2022.
That opening initially appeared large enough for a person to walk through, fueling theories that it was evidence of an artificial structure hidden within Mount Sharp.
Closer analysis revealed that it measured only approximately 12 inches tall and 16 inches wide, roughly the size of a dog door.
‘The mound, on Mount Sharp, has a number of naturally occurring open fractures,’ NASA explained at the time. ‘These kinds of open fractures are common in bedrock, both on Earth and on Mars.’
Scientists determined that the earlier ‘doorway’ was a small opening created where intersecting fractures caused pieces of rock to break away.
