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# Did NASA Spot an “Alien Doorway” on Mars?
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/did-nasa-spot-an-alien-doorway-on-mars/
- Published: 2022-05-22T20:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:21:20.000Z
- Description: Probably not, but it sure looks like one.
- Author: Sarah Rose Sharp
- Tags: News, NASA, Space, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 09:22 (2021, 2022, part 2)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2022/05/https-__mars-nasa_-gov_msl-raw-images_msss_03466_mcam_3466mr1019650291602657c00_dxxx.jpg)

An alien doorway on Mars, as captured by Mast Camera (Mastcam) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 3466 (image courtesy NASA)

Scientists and David Bowie have all famously wondered if there is life on Mars, but thus far no proof of past or present life has been confirmed during exploration of the red planet. But a [new image](https://mars.nasa.gov/raw%5Fimages/1064629/?site=msl&ref=hyperallergic.com) taken by Mast Camera (Mastcam) onboard NASA's Mars rover [Curiosity](https://mars.nasa.gov/?ref=hyperallergic.com) on Sol 3466 (Sols are Mars-days) reveals a presumably naturally occurring rock formation that suggests that there is at least one doorway on Mars.

Is it a doorway to another dimension? Probably not. The key to understanding the lost Martian society? Again, likely no. It’s not even a doorway, really, in the intentional sense, but it *looks* like a doorway and it is *on Mars*, and that is *slightly creepy* so let’s go ahead and assume what we are all hoping: ANCIENT DOOR-BUILDERS ONCE LIVED ON MARS. Go on, assume it! It feels great.

As [ScienceAlert](https://www.sciencealert.com/this-cool-rock-formation-on-mars-looks-just-like-an-alien-doorway/amp?ref=hyperallergic.com) concedes, citing [people of Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/nasa/comments/umwry5/nasa%5Flink%5Fin%5Fcomments%5Fthis%5Fimage%5Fwas%5Ftaken%5Fby/?ref=hyperallergic.com), the geologic feature is probably a shear fracture due to strain on the rock, perhaps given a helping hand by a marsquake or two. Now let’s take a moment to appreciate that every planet gets its own unique kind of quake. *Marsquake*? Why does everything sound so much cooler when it’s on Mars? Someone make a beverage called a Marsquake; I’m not sure what should be in it, but it should be red.

Personally, I don’t think theories of a doorway to the secret underground Martian civilization go far enough. This could also be home to one of Mars’s deadly cave bears, or smaller Marsupials (marsupials that live on Mars). It might lead to the writer’s room for [*Archive 81*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archive%5F81?ref=hyperallergic.com). Anything is possible at this point.

Hopefully, the Curiosity mission will *not* do any further research on the matter, because it is much more fun to speculate about what will probably turn out to be a quirk of geology (or marology, since geo is the root word for earth). Once we know the truth, it will be a doorway to nothing, but until then, it is a doorway to *IMAGINATION*, and that is the greatest destination of all.