
Claim: A photograph snapped by the Curiosity robotic rover captured a human shadow on the surface of Mars.
FALSE
Example: [Collected via twitter, January 2015]
Photo Mars has alleged shadow of "extraterrestrial" shadow of a creature moving the robot can be seen in the picture pic.twitter.com/IWH9wvyv5T
— vairton (@vairton5550) January 26, 2015
Origins: On
This came in the email this morning. Someone who wants to remain nameless has found a shadow of a human-like being messing with the Mars Curiosity rover. The person has no helmet and their short hair is visible and in high detail. The person has on air tanks on their back and a suit that covers most of the body except the hair. This leaves us with three confusing thoughts.
The web site offered three questions that could explain the presence of the human-looking shadow on Mars:
- Is this proof that the rover is on Earth and not Mars, and humans are cleaning it off and performing maintenance on it?
- Is this proof that humans are living on Mars in abandoned alien bases?
- Is this proof that aliens are messing with our rovers?
UFO Sightings Daily curiously omitted a fourth option from the list, namely "Is this proof that light cast on an oddly-shaped object will create an oddly-shaped shadow?"

The above-displayed image was taken by the Curiosity rover on
Nigel Watson, author of the UFO Investigations Manual, said the "human shadow" near the Curiosity rover is merely the result of conspiracy theorists seeing what they want to see:
This underlines the fact that such things literally lurk in the shadows and play with our imagination.
I think it is a case of seeing what we want to see, to confirm our expectations and hopes.
Last updated: 26 January 2015
![]() | Sources: |
Slater, Chris. "New Picture Shows 'Workman Fixing Space Craft' on the Red Planet." The Mirror. 25 January 2015. Waring, Scott. "Human Shadow Seen on Mars in Rover Photo, NASA Source!" UFO Sightings Daily. 23 January, 2015.