Mushrooms on Mars? According to a scientist dubbed the “Space Tiger King” that’s definitely the case!
- A team of scientists claims there are mushrooms growing on Mars.
- The researchers made their claims after looking through images made by NASA’s Curiosity rover on the Red Planet.
- They believe it “would be surprising is if there was no life on Mars.”
While studying images made by NASA’s Curiosity rover, which is currently on Mars, three scientists claimed there are mushrooms on the Red Planet.
Microbiologist Dr. Xinli Wei from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, astrophysicist Dr. Rudolph Schild from Harvard-Smithsonian, and Dr. Rhawn Gabriel Joseph, known as Space Tiger King, believe they have found evidence of fungi growing on Mars, Daily Mail reveals.
According to the experts, what the space station considered to be nothing but rocks, was actually fungus-like specimens. During their research, they have found that the “mushrooms” seem to shrink, appear, and disappear over certain periods of time. What’s more, the scientists even claim that they have discovered evidence of fungi resembling Puffballs on Earth “re-sprouting” in tracks left behind by the Curiosity rover.
The researchers have been trying to convince the scientific community there are mushrooms growing on Mars since last year.
A little over a year ago, in a study published on Research Gate, they claimed:
“Throughout its mission at Eagle Crater, Meridiani Planum, the rover Opportunity photographed thousands of mushroom-lichen-like formations with thin stalks and spherical caps, clustered together in colonies attached to and jutting outward from the tops and sides of rocks. Those on top-sides were often collectively oriented, via their caps and stalks, in a similar upward-angled direction as is typical of photosynthesizing organisms.”
Now, a year later, their claims were backed up by Dr. Joseph, who is also known for his flamboyant nickname – Space Tiger King. As per Dr. Joseph and his team, they have seen proof of life on Mars. To support their claims, they have presented dozens of images visualizing their findings. They insist that dark channels in the Martian soil called “araneiforms” are evidence of black fungi, mold, lichens, algae, and other sulphur reducing species.
Previously, NASA has stated that the massive araneiforms are the result of the defrosting of seasonal carbon dioxide ice. But according to the team of scientists, frozen carbon-dioxide ice is not black but semi-transparent white. They believe this proves that the dark channels are actually made up of massive colonies of fungi and other living species.
What’s more, the experts claim mushrooms are growing on top of the Curiosity rover.
After examining the pictures taken by the NASA rover, the researchers stated they have seen some mushroom species growing on top of Curiosity.
Moreover, they have looked through images of Mars taken by NASA’s Opportunity rover snapped between 2003 and 2018. On one of the photographs, they have identified chalky-white colored spherical formations on the surface, which they believe were actually capped mushrooms sprouting from the soil. However, the Opportunity team said the structures were hematite – a common rock-forming mineral.
The researchers’ findings claim:
“The question of if there is, or was, life on Mars, is extremely controversial. Even those favoring biology have not yet claimed to have found definitive proof.
It is well established that a variety of terrestrial organisms survive Mars-like conditions.
Given the likelihood Earth has been seeding Mars with life and life has been repeatedly transferred between worlds, it would be surprising if there was no life.
However, in contrast to terrestrial organisms, Martian fungi, lichens, moulds, algae and other putative life-forms, would have evolved on and already be adapted to the low temperatures.”
They add:
“Almost all scientists who have searched for current or past life on Mars, have reported positive findings. What would be surprising is if there was no life on Mars.”
