While it's no leg bone or even a coffin, geobiologist Nora Noffke claims that the rock forms shown in the photos by the Curiosity Rover show a structure similar to the ones responsible for the formation of life on our own planet Earth.
Noffke examined an image taken by the rover of an outcrop in Gillespie Lake located in the Yellowknife Bay area of the Gale Crater. In theory, this area would have been one of the best places for Martian life to have existed in one form or another. The Curiosity Rover has already uncovered proof that the Red Planet once held water in liquid form, and the region being explored is actually a lake bed that dried up long ago.
However, looking similar to life doesn't count as definitive proof, and Noffke concedes this point, saying, "all I can say is, here's my hypothesis and here's all the evidence that I have, although I do think that this evidence is a lot."
The planetary scientist in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Chris McKay, explained that it may not be proof, but is the most intense examination of Mars photos he has ever seen.
"I've seen many papers that say 'Look, here's a pile of dirt on Mars, and here's a pile of dirt on Earth. And because they look the same, the same mechanism must have made each pile on the two planets.' That's an easy argument to make, and it's typically not very convincing. However, Noffke's paper is the most carefully done analysis of the sort that I've seen, which is why it's the first of its kind published in Astrobiology."
Noffke explained that her process began once she had found something that looked like fossilized life.
"I took a closer look, meaning I spent several weeks investigating certain images centimeter by centimeter, drawing sketches, and comparing them to data from terrestrial structures."
The Curiosity is a car-sized robotic rover exploring the Gale Crater on Mars as part of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission. Originally launched from Cape Canaveral on November 26, 2011, the Curiosity landed in the Gale Crater on Mars on August 6, 2012. The rover's goals include the investigation of the Martian climate and geology and to assess whether or not the Gale Crater ever offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial or other life. On June 24, 2014, Curiosity celebrated a Martian year - 687 Earth days - on the planet after finding that Mars once had environmental conditions that could support life.
