Sorry, @1963 Snopes says nothing to see here.
Does This NASA Photo Show a ‘Portal’ and ‘Wall’ on Mars?
Well yes! ... I thought that it would turn out to be something as simple as that!... that's why I didn't get excited and post it as being "proof" of any kind of 'ancient martian civilisation' ... because I earnestly thought that 'a real identification' wouldn't be far away. ...However, I can't help but to agree with Nivek in questioning Snope's simple explanation of anomalous looking nature of the picture! ... 11x17 inches... really? ... What are the parameters of measurement in this picture? ... i'm no expert... but that doesn't seem possible to my [befuddled] old head? ... because if you view the picture through that GIGAPAN link that I posted then the hill [or whatever, that you can zoom all over the place] looks an awful lot bigger than the 50ft-or so that it wouldn't be able to exceed for the 'doorway/crevice' to be as small as 11x17 inches! ... in fact, by my rough estimation [very rough lol] ... I wouldn't argue if someone said that the hill in view was more like in the region of 4 to 5 hundred feet [top to bottom of viewable image] which would make the 'doorway/crevice' more in the region of 9 to 10ft'ish. And playing Devil's advocate here.... how tall would ancient Martians have to be Snopes? lol. ... And just to keep this thing light... "did anyone else use that GIGAPAN zoom tool to get right in there as far as possible and see the graffiti of the old Greek-looking-guy holding his long gnarly grim reaper scythe in front of him... warning the damn-pesky Earthlings to stay away! " MSL 3466 MR (gigapan.com)Sorry, @1963 Snopes says nothing to see here.
Does This NASA Photo Show a ‘Portal’ and ‘Wall’ on Mars?
Sol 3474: Mast Camera (Mastcam) – NASA Mars ExplorationBeyond the hope by some this depicts plant-life of some kind, other explanations have circulated online.
- A hard mineral vein: The theory here is that there is a mineral vein within the rock, and although the surrounding rock eroded over time, the mineral vein was harder and did not.
- A fulgurite: Fulgurites are natural tubes or crusts of glass formed by the fusion of silica (quartz) sand or rock from a lightning strike.
Is there lightning on Mars? — Astroquizzicalon Mars the best guess is that the lightning would not really resemble the large bolts of lightning we see here on Earth.
More likely is that this lightning would resemble the arcing jolts of electricity you can create by shuffling along in socks on carpet and then touching a doorknob. In a dark room, you can see the filamentary discharge of electricity between your finger and the doorknob. On Mars, you might expect to see little flickers of electricity arcing between parts of the dust storm, faintly lighting up the night sky.
What are these things photographed on Mars?
It is a photograph from the official NASA site and simply says ...
This image was taken by Mast Camera (Mastcam) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 3474 (2022-05-15 13:35:22 UTC).
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS