No UFOs on Mars: NASA Perseverance Rover’s Viral Image Explained

The NASA Perseverance rover recently captured an image last Sunday, and it became the center of controversy in online forums, asking what the strange small object seen in the picture. The small object had many people wondering if it was a UFO flying over the planet, with NASA clarifying via a statement that it is not one, dismissing all the wild theories.

Percy's latest snap is from its left navigation camera (Navcam), with many thinking that this is evidence of alien lifeforms present on the neighboring planet from the Earth.

No UFOs on Mars: NASA Explains What Percy's Image Is

People are still sighting unidentified flying objects (UFOs) in the world, and it seems like their focus shifted to the Perseverance rover's latest image from Sol 629. To be fair, one would wonder what the seemingly floating object was, but it is far and unrecognizable, with people immediately jumping to conclusions about what is it.

People over at Reddit have made this discussion viral, especially as it speculated on a "flying object" found on Mars, as captured by the Perseverance rover.

And while it is a fact that Perseverance indeed captured it, and it exists on a legitimate photograph, CNET reports that NASA JPL's imaging scientist, Justin Maki, said that it was a result of a bad pixel.

To be clear, there are NO UFOs on Mars and is only a result of artifacts accumulating dirt on the planet.

Caused by Perseverance Rover's Rough Stay on Mars?

Additionally, the explanation statement from NASA said that micron-sized debris that is floating around on Mars' atmosphere is its cause, one that penetrated its cameras and caused bad pixels to appear on photos. It explains why other images also see this weird object floating by, but not necessarily UFOs or alien evidence on the planet.

NASA's Perseverance Mission

NASA's Perseverance mission consists of two vehicles roaming the Jezero crater to investigate the region, centering on looking for signs of water and ancient life which was theorized to be present millions of years ago. The goal is to find evidence regarding this, and it would bring more knowledge and fields to study once future human missions take place.

The mission has two brave robots roaming the area, with the Perseverance rover and Ingenuity Mars Helicopter working side by side to provide NASA with updates daily.

Another of its mission is to gather materials from Mars, including samples of rocks and sand from the planet, then bring it back to the Earth for research and studies. The pair from Mars is preparing its collected samples from different regions of the Jezero crater which it already has available, waiting for the retrieval mission soon.

With the belief that there was once ancient life on Mars, many people who theorize or believe in alien life forms may conceive strange appearances as extraterrestrial beings. However, NASA experts already clarify these findings to be the results of bad pixels from its Navcam array, not something which is known to man as UFOs.