People have been fascinated by the planet Mars since ancient times. Someone was sure that there was definitely life, someone regarded Mars as a strategic base for aliens, and someone promised that "apple trees will bloom on Mars as well." But one way or another, a lot of different stories and even conspiracy theories are associated with this planet, which will be discussed in our review.
1. Phobos - space station
When the European Space Agency announced that one of Mars' satellites, Phobos, turned out to be hollow, this was confirmed by the results of the Soviet astrophysicist Joseph Shklovsky, who argued this back in the late 1960s. Moreover, Shklovsky believed that Phobos is not only hollow, but given its unusual and uneven orbit, there is a real possibility that this satellite is of artificial origin.
Over the years, many ufologists, alien seekers, and even theoretical astrophysicists have developed Shklovsky's findings. One of the main theories from this marginal group of thinkers was that Phobos was launched into orbit and is actually an ancient space station that may have been used as a starting point for space travel or as a defense against asteroids.
Another theory is that, Phobos was formed from several large asteroid debris, so a natural void formed in the center of the structure. Interestingly, there have been numerous attempts to send a probe to Phobos. But all of them, for one reason or another, ended in failure.
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2. Sphinx and pyramids of Mars
Not only is there a sphinx on the surface of Mars, but it is also located in front of structures that are pyramids. While most researchers and experts claim that the pyramids are naturally formed mountains, some believe that the exact proportions of the structures indicate their artificial origin.
The likelihood that these pyramids are volcanoes is also very small, since the only known volcanic region of Mars is the Tarsis region, which is 3200 kilometers from the site of the pyramids in Kydonia. Therefore, it is not surprising that a number of people have traced the connection between the Sphinx and the pyramids on Mars with the Sphinx in Egypt and the pyramids of Giza.
NASA claims that because parts of the images are blurry, people experience the effect of pareidolia, that is, they see certain objects where there is really nothing but random patterns and shapes.
3. Project Redsun - a secret manned flight to Mars
According to a story that first surfaced in 2011, there was a secret mission to establish a base on Mars in the 1970s. After Apollo 17, the last manned mission to the moon, NASA began conducting clandestine space flights. One of them, Project Redsun, was a joint US-Soviet mission to colonize Mars. The first group of colonial astronauts reportedly arrived on the red planet in late 1971: in essence, it was a mission to gather information.
The second mission was launched in August 1973: two American astronauts (commander Elliot Sea and pilot William Rutledge) and Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Ilyushin were on board the ISV Columbus. A video of a NASA training flight has appeared on YouTube. Naturally, a discussion immediately flared up regarding the authenticity of the video: the vast majority of people believe that this is a hoax, albeit a very good hoax.
Outwardly, the story surfaced thanks to the Italian UFO researcher Luca Scantamburlo and his informant named Rutledge (who was the pilot of the Redsun mission in 1973). Rutledge also spoke about several other secret projects, including the one in which an alien base was discovered on the moon.
4. The American is confident that a man visited Mars in 1979
In 2014, a woman who called herself Jackie called a radio show in the United States. She claimed to have previously worked for NASA. In 1979, Jackie was processing telemetry from the Viking spacecraft, which was the first spacecraft capable of sending photographs of the surface of Mars back to Earth. While processing the Viking video, she noticed 2 human figures walking on the surface of Mars. Moreover, they were dressed in spacesuits that were not as bulky as those that were used at the time.
According to Jackie, these people walked over the horizon and approached the Viking Explorer. Jackie also claimed that six other NASA employees also witnessed the incident, but they were forbidden to talk about it.
5. Gilbert Levin: there is hidden life on Mars
According to American engineer Gilbert Levin, he proved that there is life on Mars back in 1976. This experiment called "Labeled Release" was performed by the first Viking rover that landed on the red planet.
Levine claims that after the rover landed, soil samples were taken in which organic life was identified. However, the next 2 experiments did not confirm the results of the first, so they forgot about it.
6. Panspermia: all living things came from Mars and
In 2013, two different scientists came up with "confirmation" of the controversial theory of panspermia, which claims that life came to Earth (in this case from Mars) in molecular form thanks to an asteroid that fell on our planet. The theory itself dates back to the fifth century BC, when the Greek philosopher Anaxagoras referred to it in his writings.
When organic molecules were found on asteroids in 1984 and 1996, the theory gained popularity again. Most scientists agree that Mars was a completely different planet billions of years ago. It had an atmosphere and oceans of liquid water.
7. Nuclear war on Mars
In 2014, plasma particle physics scientist John Brandenburg stated that Mars has experienced at least two major nuclear explosions in its history. This is evidenced by the large concentration of xenon-129 in the atmosphere of Mars, as well as the excessive amount of uranium and thorium in the soil of this planet.
Three years earlier, Brandenburg had stated that the regions of Kydonia and Utopia on Mars have all the signs of a developed ancient humanoid civilization. In 2014, he noticed that just in those regions where the most powerful nuclear explosions once thundered, there is the least evidence of the existence of an ancient civilization.
8. Stargate on Mars
In September 2015, UFO researchers analyzing photographs of the surface of Mars stumbled upon what they believed to be a "stargate," half buried underground. The object attracted attention with its exceptionally straight lines. They also noticed something that looked like the remains of a roof that had been damaged a long time ago.
A circular hole was visible in the middle of the structure. Although in this case, these are exclusively unfounded statements, even if it was proved that the structure is artificial.
9. The face and the ancient city of Kydonia
Perhaps the first great mystery of Mars in the modern era was The Face on Mars, which was first seen in 1976 in one of the many photographs taken during the Viking mission. When people first saw this photo, most agreed that the photo shows a face on the surface of Mars. After further research, it was officially announced that this is nothing more than a play of light.
Photos of the same area taken in 1998 and 2001 seem to confirm this. However, conspiracy theorists argue that the new images were deliberately taken from an unfavorable angle. They also argue that the structure itself is too "correct" to be natural.
Also, the conspiracy theorists claim that there are "obvious" remains of the ancient city in the immediate vicinity of the "Martian face", including the pyramids mentioned above. They believe that the unusual number of "structures" found in the region indicate that these are the ruins of an ancient city.
10. Strange objects on Mars
From the Viking mission to the present day, people have had the opportunity to view thousands of images of Martian terrain. Although most of these images show a desert planet, a world of sand and rocks, some of the photos show strange and mysterious objects. In 2015, a dilapidated pillar or column was found in the photo, on the surface of which you could see something similar to the petroglyphs of ancient Egypt. In the summer of the same year, a photo was made public on social media, which showed a woman on a mountain hill.
A photograph of a woman walking on the surface of Mars had appeared a few years earlier. There have also been numerous photographs of human bones and skulls on Mars, and some have even found Martian animals such as lizards and even rats in the photographs. Perhaps the most famous of these images appeared on the Internet in 2015, showing a Martian crab.