The mysterious door on Mars is ‘the entrance to the ancient past’

When NASA posted a picture of the strange door that Curiosity took on May 7 without any comments, the image was shared at breakneck speed.

Many comments expressed surprise, claiming that it was the “entrance to the house” of aliens, but there were also independent researchers who suggested that it could be just a coincidence of a geological structure.

Curiosity’s image sent to Earth – Photo: NASA

According to the sheet Space, a new statement from the team operating Curiosity – the rover that captured the mysterious door – confirms it is indeed a natural open fault in the rock. The NASA team of scientists did not call the structure a door, but called it a dog hole, because actually the mysterious door was only 30 cm high and 40 cm wide.

“There are some linear faults in the mound, but at this location some of the cracks intersect. This allows to have broken at such angles,” the Curiosity team explained on Twitter.

“These types of open faults are common in bedrock, both on Earth and on Mars,” NASA said in a statement, but stressed it was still “an entrance to the ancient past.” The door doesn’t help us meet aliens, but it does give science interesting opportunities.

So Curiosity will continue to study in more detail about the “door” and what is hidden inside.

The first photo of the door was released by NASA on May 11 – Photo: NASA

Deep faults on a planet, including Earth, can be places where the planet inadvertently rips itself apart and exposes itself, providing a valuable avenue for scientists to understand what’s going on. The rock layer, the ancient sedimentary layer has just been revealed through the cracks without having to be difficult to find out through the drill cores.

Meanwhile, Curiosity’s main goal is to learn about the history of Mars through ancient sediments and rocks. That’s where the materials reveal how the planet formed, how it went through geological evolution, and how life formed and died out.