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Last updated 22 January 2008
from DailyMail Website

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Does this photograph really prove that we are not alone in the universe?

Images beamed back from Mars would suggest so - although to skeptics, it could just be a strange rock formation.

NASA's Mars Explorer Spirit sent back images from the surface of the Red Planet four years ago, and there was initial disappointment among scientists that they lacked any signs of life.

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The 'alien' appears to be walking downhill
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But space and science fiction enthusiasts are convinced there is more than meets the eye, and after years of studying the images, have found what appears to be an alien figure walking downhill.

The discovery of the life-like figure ambling across the surface of the planet is likely to further boost intrigue in our nearest neighboring planet. An earlier rock formation, dubbed "the face of Mars" showed what appeared to be a human head staring into the night sky.

The pictures, found on a Chinese website, are now creating a stir of excitement on the internet.

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Alien life:

What seems to be a human-like Martian is pictured on Mars
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One keen stargazer said:

"These pictures are amazing. I couldn't believe my eyes when I looked and saw what appears to be a naked alien running around on Mars."

NASA's Mars Explorer Spirit is now starting its fourth year of exploration.

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Painstaking:

Space enthusiasts spent four years analyzing this image,

which on much closer inspection shows the 'alien'
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Rovers are deployed because it has so far been too costly and difficult to achieve a manned mission to Mars, and because probes and satellites are too limited to explore the Martian surface.

The Spirit rover was launched on June 10, 2003.

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Does This Show There's Life on Mars?
by Lucy Bannerman

January 23, 2008

from TimesOnline Website

Recovered through WayBackMachine Website

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Is it a rock? A trick of Martian light on the eye? Or Osama Bin Laden waving from his barren hideout 300 million miles from planet earth?

NASA scientists have been puzzled by the peculiarly life-like image which has been beamed back to earth by one of their two robot rovers that are currently trundling about the surface of the red planet, on the hunt for clues of life on Mars.

It will delight spacewatchers who have been so far disappointed by the lack of images of little green men captured by the twin vehicles on their four year mission.

The alien figure was pictured at the far left of one of the panoramic photographs taken by the exploration rover, Spirit (below), from the top of a low plateau in late 2007.

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The robot vehicle and its twin, Opportunity, have been roving around on Mars since completing their first successful mission in April 2004. Their principle goal is to hunt for geological evidence of water, that suggest an environment which may once have been hospitable to life.

Having been launched from Cape Canaveral, in Florida, in June and July in 2003, they traveled 487 million and 456 million km respectively to opposite ends of the planet, where they went on to explore the dusty, rock-strewn landscape.

Each solar-powered rover is a sort of the mechanical equivalent of a geologist walking the surface of Mars. The mast-mounted cameras are mounted 1.5 meters(5 feet) high and provide 360-degree, stereoscopic, humanlike views of the terrain.

The robotic arm is capable of movement in much the same way as a human arm with an elbow and wrist, and can place instruments directly up against rock and soil targets of interest. In the mechanical "fist" of the arm is a microscopic camera that serves the same purpose as a geologist's handheld magnifying lens.

The budget for the project is around $820million.

Last week, a similar probe captured the first images from the "dark side" of Mercury, which showed previously unseen hemisphere from 17,000 miles.

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