No evidence to suggest that NASA has found an idol of Lord Ganesha on Mars
A video is going viral on social media platforms claiming that an idol of the Hindu god Lord Ganesha was found on Mars (here, here, here, and here). The video further alleges that NASA discovered this idol of Lord Ganesha on Mars. In the video, we can see a brown-coloured structure transforming into a statue of Lord Ganesha. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video showing an idol of Lord Ganesha discovered by NASA scientists on Mars.
Fact: There is no evidence to support the claim that NASA scientists have discovered an idol of Lord Ganesha on Mars. This viral video was created by editing an image released by NASA in August 2023, which was captured by the Mars Curiosity Rover in July 2023. Similar claims have previously gone viral, alleging that NASA’s Curiosity Rover captured images of a ‘Buddha’ and a ‘dark lady’ on Mars. However, NASA has made no official announcement regarding these claims. In fact, all these images are purely interpretative, with some people mistakenly identifying shapes in the NASA images as resembling a Lord Ganesha statue, a Buddha statue, or a lady. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
To verify the viral claim, we conducted a relevant keyword search; however, we could not find any credible information supporting the assertion that NASA scientists have discovered an idol of Lord Ganesha on Mars. If such a discovery had indeed taken place, it would certainly have been reported by both Indian and international media. We then checked the official website of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and found no information about a Ganesha idol being discovered on Mars by NASA scientists. Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in our solar system and is also known as the “Red Planet” due to its distinctive colour. More information about Mars can be found here.
Subsequently, to gather more details about the viral video, we conducted a Google reverse image search using keyframes from the viral video. This search led us to an extended version of the video clip on a YouTube channel called ‘Tavi Technical Space’. The video (archived link) was uploaded on 8 August 2023 with the title: “Mars Rover’s Panoramic Cam Captures Latest 360° Unexpected Weird 4K Video Footage of Mars Life”. According to the video description, “This video is made up with several 4K resolution images of Mars taken by NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover onboard Mast cameras (panoramic cam) on sol 3899 and 3090 during the NASA 2023 mars mission.”
Taking this as a cue, we then searched for information about the Curiosity rover. The Curiosity rover is a robotic spacecraft built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), managed by Caltech (California Institute of Technology) in Pasadena, California. JPL leads the Mars mission on behalf of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego built and operates the Mastcam attached to Curiosity. We found an image on NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory website that contains visuals similar to those in the viral video.
According to the description, “This image shows a 360-degree view of an impact crater located in an area nicknamed “Jau.” The scene was captured by the rover’s Mastcam on 25 July 2023, the 3,899th Martian day (or sol) of the mission. This was one of dozens of impact craters in a cluster that the Curiosity rover visited after completing one of its most difficult climbs. The image was published on 03 August 2023.”
When we compared the footage from the viral video with the 360-degree image, we found the two to be identical. We observed the same crater and rock-like structures in both visuals—a large black rock-like formation and a small brown structure. We can see the brown-shaped structure transforming into the form of Lord Ganesha. Upon closer inspection of the viral video, it becomes clear that it has been edited. Therefore, based on these observations, we can conclude that the viral video was created by zooming in on and editing this image taken by the Curiosity rover. Additional information about the Curiosity rover can be found here, & here. A comparison of the viral video with the YouTube video and the image sent by NASA’s Curiosity rover is shown below.
Earlier, the US-based website ‘UFO Sightings Daily’ claimed that NASA’s Curiosity Rover captured images of a ‘Buddha’ and a ‘dark lady’ on Mars in 2015. However, NASA has made no official announcement regarding these claims. In fact, all these images are purely imaginary, meaning that the shapes in the images released by NASA are simply interpreted by some as resembling a Buddha statue or a lady (here, here, here, & here).
To sum up, the claim that NASA scientists have discovered an idol of Ganesha on Mars is false. This viral video was created by editing a photo of Mars released by NASA in August 2023.