Nasa discovers strange Martian markings which could PROVE aliens lived on the Red Planet

NASA's Curiosity Rover has made an incredible discovery that could prove life once blossomed on the red planet.

The space boffins sent the rover to investigate these mysterious patterns spreading across its surface.

And they think they are traces of ancient mud from billions of years ago when Mars had an abundance of lakes.

"Mud cracks are the most likely scenario here," said Curiosity science team member Nathan Stein.

Mud indicates the presence of water - the basic building block of life.

The stunning images follow a flurry of bonkers claims that ancient walled cities and ancient martian soldiers were allegedly spotted in photos taken by Curiosity Rover.

But this revelation is grounded in science.

Stein, a graduate student at Caltech in Pasadena, California, has been investigating the puzzling formations at the bottom of Mount Sharp, which space boffs have nicknamed "Old Soaker".

It might sound like much ado about mud, these cracks could prove that Mars could have been more similar to Earth than first thought.

The cracked layers seen in these stunning images formed more than 3 billion years ago and was buried by other layers of sediment, all becoming stratified rock.

Later, wind erosion stripped away the layers above Old Soaker.

Material that had filled the cracks resisted erosion better than the mudstone around it, so the pattern from the cracking now appears as raised ridges.

"It looks like what you'd see beside the road where muddy ground has dried and cracked," said Stein.

The Nasa rover landed near Mount Sharp back in 2012 and has been working its way around the alien planet since.

It reached the base of the mountain in 2014 and amazed scientists when it found evidence that Martian lakes were might have been teeming with life.

We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368