NASA Mars photo reveals strange object

According to an article written August 5, 2008, a piece of "timber" has been found in one of the NASA photos, taken by the Mar´s Rover "Opportunity"

You can read the full article here: "NASA Mars photo leaked - wood found on mars!"

Where would a piece of timber (if that is what it is) come from, if there are no trees on Mars? The author of the article says "There are vast forests on Mars, ones that are kept from the public. This piece of wood looks like it floated to its present location, being partially sunk in the soil."

Whilst conditions on Mars are different to that on Earth (atmosphere and temperatures), it seems unlikely that a piece of wood could survive any great length of time, a point the author makes "This flood had to have happened within the past thirty or forty years because the wood is intact, though this is judging the rate of decay by Earth standards. Some may say that Mars did have water on it long ago and that it even had an atmosphere, which is true, but a piece of timber isn´t going to survive for thousands of years."

Although the Viking Orbiters photographed what appeared to be forests on Mars, there has been no mention of this recently, or any new images.

It is the author´s belief that the photograph released by NASA was an accident and that it is "a photo that could get someone killed"

Many have questioned the "honesty" of NASA over the years, some even doubting whether the Rovers are on Mars at all (and whether anyone actually walked on the Moon). There is certainly evidence to back-up some of these claims.

What other explanations are there for the object seen in the photo?

Clearly the photo came from NASA, as you can see other images of the "log" in photos displayed on the Jet Propulsion Laboratory site. So if this is a hoax, it is someone at NASA who is doing it.

Is it a hoax? If we assume that these images really are of Mars, there are two possibilities. Firstly, it is an object that looks like a piece of timber, and we should be investigating that further (to find out exactly what it is and how it got to be there). Or secondly, it is a NASA employee having some fun with Photoshop.

If we look a little closer at the image, the shadow on the "piece of timber" seems to indicate the Sun is almost directly above the object. Yet objects on the Rover show the Sun to be in a different position (more to the right as we look at the image)



The ability to "fake" pictures is getting easier almost every day, so it is difficult to say with any certainty what is real. However, there is no doubt that NASA have become much more cautious over the years about what images are released to the public and "live" feeds were stopped some time ago. Many of the images sent back from the Rovers have shown some unusual results since their arrival like: dust collecting more heavily on some parts of the craft than others, or areas that have been mysteriously "cleaned" and questions over the true color of the pictures we are seeing etc.

One thing does seem certain and that is the "secrecy" that has been applied to some of the information given. If we are not being given the full story, how much of what we receive can we believe?