{"id":800,"date":"2016-11-25T11:50:53","date_gmt":"2016-11-25T11:50:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/natgeokids.com?p=800"},"modified":"2025-11-11T17:45:24","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T17:45:24","slug":"nasa-find-mouse-mars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.natgeokids.com\/uk\/discover\/science\/space\/nasa-find-mouse-mars\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA’s Curiosity Rover spots a ‘mouse’ on Mars!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Check it out,\u00a0Nat Geo Kids<\/em> fans – it looks like we might have found a red planet rodent! This mouse-shaped shadow was caught on camera by a NASA robot…<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"NASA's<\/a><\/p>\n

Scientists have long questioned whether there is life on Mars<\/a>, and by the looks of these latest pictures, there very well might be…<\/p>\n

NASA’s Curiosity Rover (a robot exploring the landscape on planet Mars), seems to have spotted something rather unusual among the usually uninhabited and rocky Martian landscape.<\/p>\n

A UFO you might think? A three-headed fish, even? Nope, the pictures show what seems to be a small, fluffy mouse – just hanging out on Mars.<\/p>\n

\"White<\/a><\/p>\n

While there’s no official word from NASA about the Martian mouse, amateur astronomer Joe White posted the pictures on his YouTube channel, saying he thinks he’s spotted a mouse in the Curiosity Rover’s recent footage.<\/p>\n

He wrote alongside the video: “A possible very large mouse or other rodent on Mars in Gale Crater – sitting on a ridge, plain as day.\u00a0It is probably an optical illusion but seems to have big ears, nose and eyes. It resembles a very large mouse or jerboa in appearance.”<\/p>\n

But hold on to your hats space lovers, because it looks as though the little critter might<\/em> just be a figure of our imaginations, as many people believe the shadowy image to simply show a mouse-shaped rock.<\/p>\n

\"NASA's<\/a><\/p>\n

The Curiosity Rover touched down on Mars on 6th August 2012 and has been on a special space mission to explore the red planet ever since. Scientists are using the car-sized robot to study the Gale Crater<\/strong>, an old meteor<\/strong> site on Mars!<\/p>\n

For years scientists believed there was no chance of finding life on Mars, due to its thin atmosphere<\/strong> and freezing winter temperatures – which can be as cold as minus130\u00b0C<\/strong><\/em>! But in September 2015 scientists announced they had found salt water<\/strong> on the planet’s surface, leading them to think there could<\/em> be life on Mars… just probably not in the shape of a mouse!
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Cool, eh? What do you think, is it a mouse or a rock? Let us know by leaving a comment below.<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Check it out,\u00a0Nat Geo Kids fans – it looks like we might have found a red planet rodent! This mouse-shaped shadow was caught on camera by a NASA robot… Scientists have long questioned whether there is life on Mars, and by the looks of these latest pictures, there very well might be… NASA’s Curiosity Rover … Continue reading NASA’s Curiosity Rover spots a ‘mouse’ on Mars!<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5389,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[946,652,664,947,159],"christmas-category":[],"class_list":["post-800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-space","tag-life-on-mars","tag-mars","tag-nasa","tag-science","tag-space","countries-australia","countries-ireland","countries-new-zealand","countries-south-africa","countries-united-kingdom"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNASA's Curiosity Rover spots a 'mouse' on Mars! - National Geographic Kids<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"NASA's Curiosity Rover spots a 'mouse' on Mars: A shadowy creature appearing to be a mouse has been captured on footage from the NASA Curiosity Rover\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.natgeokids.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NASA's Curiosity Rover spots a 'mouse' on Mars! 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