'Human shadow' photographed on Mars

Conspiracy theorists claim to have identified the shadow of a man working on the Curiosity rover.

From traffic lights to human bones, anomaly hunters claim to have seen just about everything you can imagine resting on the surface of the Red Planet no matter how impossible or bizarre.

The shadow of the 'figure' can be seen on the left. Image Credit: NASA

This latest find to hit the web however is a little bit different. While still undoubtedly an exercise in pareidolia, the claim centers around a photograph taken by NASA's Curiosity rover which allegedly shows the shadow of an actual person working on repairing the rover while standing right next to it.

Conspiracy theorists have jumped on the image as evidence that either humans are already capable of traveling to Mars or that the mission is a hoax and that the rover never even went there.

Conspiracy theorists are discussing the possibility of life on Mars after an image was released by NASA that appear to show the Mars Curiosity rover being tended to by a human figure

In reality however the shadow, which at least does partially resemble a human figure, is almost certainly being cast by nothing more than the rover's own chassis.

They say the shadow of a 'human-like' figure can be seen leaning over the space probe and carrying out repairs.

It appears as if he is wearing a suit and and air tank, similar to those worn by human astronauts, however crucially he has no helmet.

The pictures have been reported to the monitoring website UFO sightings daily, and have sent conspiracy theorists into overdrive.

However scientists have poured cold water on the idea saying it is a figment of people's imaginations.   

It has previously been claimed that Mars is the ‘off-world’ base for a group of  ‘Non-Terrestrial Officers' controlled by the Pentagon, the US military's command centre.

Mosaic of pictures taken by NASA Mars rover Curiosity while the rover was working at a site called "Rocknest"

This was backed up by documents reportedly obtained by Gary McKinnon, a hacker who faced extradition to the US in 2002, reports the Metro.

Nigel Watson, author of the UFO Investigations Manual said: "This new image is more incredible because the human doesn’t appear to be wearing a helmet – not a good idea on the surface of Mars.

"Conspiracy theorists will say that Mars is far more habitable for human life than scientists say and is part of the cover-up to stop us knowing that there are bases on Mars and elsewhere in the Solar System.

"I think it is a case of “seeing” what we want to see, to confirm our expectations and hopes.

"This underlines the fact that such things literally lurk in the shadows and play with our imagination."

Last year, a former US Marine claimed he had spent 17 years of his career on Mars.

The ex-naval infantryman, who uses the pseudonym Captain Kaye, said he was posted to the Red Planet to protect five human colonies from indigenous Martian life forms.

Separately, a woman who said she was a former Nasa employee claimed she saw humans on Mars 35 years ago.

The lady, known only as Jackie, insisted she had seen suited men running on the surface of the Red Planet when she called up US radio station Coast to Coast AM.

The Curiosity Rover was launched in November 2011 as part of a mission whose aim was to establish 'whether the region has ever offered conditions for microbial life.'

It was announced last month that NASA intend to send humans to Mars using a new Orion spacecraft which they are currently testing.