NASA's Curiosity rover has been exploring Mars since 2012 and has made a number of strange and interesting discoveries. The newest of these being a rock that many Twitter users have claimed looks like a dildo.
Currently exploring the Gale Crater, the rover records pictures of Martian geology. Some of these images have been made available to the public - which is how freelance space writer Paul Scott Anderson made the bizarre discovery.
Anderson's tweet about the rock immediately began making waves on Twitter, where people began to post what they thought the rock looked like.
Although some weren't as convinced that the rock looked like a dildo, but rather a high heel or a shoe horn.
Conversation quickly turned to exactly how the rock had formed - and why does it look so smooth? One potential answer is the fact that scientists believe that Mars was once home to water.
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Billions of years ago the planet was home to crater lakes, and when these craters were full the water would spill over and carve the valleys that can now be seen on the planet's surface.
If the rock came from a crater lake or a river it could have been eroded over billions of years.
Either that, or the Martians just want to get their rocks off.
Strangely, after posting about this discovery, Anderson received a cease and desist letter from NEO NFT - a company claiming that they own the image of the rock as an NFT, despite the image being made publicly available by NASA.
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Somehow, even with all the talk of alien sex toys and shoe horns, this is perhaps the most bizarre of responses to Anderson's tweet.
The letter sent by NEO NFT claims that they have 'reserved all rights to the Rock' and ask that Anderson 'delete all reminants [sic] of rocks'. They also warn that the document cannot be shared with authorities as that is 'snitching'.
NEO NFT claim to 'sell NFTs that give you mining rights to near-Earth asteroids' and the rights to alien sex toys apparently.
The image will likely stay up on Anderson Twitter and elsewhere seeing as it NASA's public image library, and not actually owned by NEO NFT.
Isobel Pankhurst