NASA’s Curiosity rover has captured countless strange-looking rocks during its years exploring Mars. Now, one resurfaced image is fueling extraordinary claims that the Red Planet was once the site of an alien war. UFO researcher Scott C Waring shared a photo taken by the rover that appears to show what he believes is an unexploded ‘alien missile’ lying on the Martian surface. He argued the object is evidence of an ancient conflict that wiped out a once-thriving civilization, claiming space agencies have remained silent because of its potential military significance. Waring even speculated the mysterious object could represent advanced extraterrestrial weapon technology that governments would rush to obtain if it were ever recovered. The remarkable claims, however, are not supported by NASA, which has offered no indication that the object is anything other than a naturally occurring rock formation. Scientists have long noted that Mars is shaped by billions of years of volcanic activity, meteorite impacts and relentless wind erosion, processes capable of sculpting rocks into surprisingly artificial-looking shapes.

Similar discoveries have repeatedly sparked claims of alien artifacts on the Red Planet before later being explained as examples of pareidolia, the human tendency to see familiar objects and patterns where none actually exist. Still, the peculiar shape has reignited debate online, with believers convinced Curiosity has stumbled across the remnants of an extraterrestrial battlefield while skeptics see little more than another Martian rock. NASA has also maintained that it has no evidence of extraterrestrial life and has yet to find any signs of current or past life on Mars. However, Waring estimated the object measures just over eight feet long and speculated it could be an intact piece of extraterrestrial technology.

He claimed such a discovery would be highly sought after by governments hoping to study advanced weapons, while wondering who might reach it first and what purpose it may have served. Waring offered no evidence to support those claims, and NASA has not identified the object as anything other than part of the Martian landscape. While the UFO researcher suggested the object is a remnant of an alien missile, others suggested it could be a crashed extraterrestrial ship. Another Facebook user who shared the image argued that the object appears long and narrow, with what they described as two compartments.

They speculated that one compartment looked empty while the other seemed to contain ‘packages,’ adding that what appeared to be wings may have broken off in a crash, leading them to conclude it was ‘most likely’ some type of aircraft. Another user commented: ‘Would be cool if it actually was a crashed ship?’ Earlier this month, Waring shared another mysterious Mars photo he claimed showed a dwelling on the Red Planet. The discovery was made in a panorama taken by Curiosity last month inside Gale Crater, the 96-mile-wide impact basin that has been the rover’s home since landing on Mars in 2012. Among the dusty landscape, some have pointed to a formation in the distance that they say resembles a structure with a doorway, similar to an early human dwelling.

Read More: NASA Mars photo sparks claims of ‘alien missile’ and ancient war