Has NASA already seen fossils which prove that soft-bodied creatures once wriggled on the Red Planet? Is the space agency choosing to ignore the evidence?
That’s what one controversial scientist claims – saying that he believes NASA is trying to ‘cover up’ evidence of life, before it plans missions to the Red Planet.
Buckingham University researcher Barry DiGregorio claims that the Curiosity rover spotted ‘trace fossils’ similar to ones he found on Earth in his own research.
‘Trace fossils’ are fossils of traces such as footprints, rather than the remains of animals.
Dr DiGregorio’If not trace fossils, what other geological explanations will Nasa come up with?
‘Nasa has turned its back on trying to get the data on this. The order came down from HQ that they should move the rover on to the next point.
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‘They didn’t feel it was important enough to look at, I thought that was very odd, despite the fact Gale Crater was host to probably a series of lakes for billions and billions of years.
‘We’re talking about something that might have been equivalent to the Ordovician period on Earth.’
NASA says the stuctures are simply crystals.
Sanjeev Gupta of the NASA’s Mars Curiosity team says ,’These shapes are characteristic of gypsum crystals.These can form when salts become concentrated in water, such as in an evaporating lake.’