NASA: Why Mars Rover Curiosity Is Likely to Find 'Martians'

Curiosity Rover

With the rover Curiosity now safely on Mars, the world will be seeing lots of video in the coming months and years from the planet's surface.

The six-legged, nuclear-powered $2 billion robot has already sent back images of Gale Crater where it landed, and it's soon on its way toward a 3-mile-high mountain nearby. Scientists — and indeed the entire world — are watching with bated breath to see what Curiosity can find as it spends the next two years digging, sampling, probing, and analyzing on the Red Planet's rocky surface.

Many will also be looking for evidence of life on Mars, and Curiosity may provide it — even if it's not there. NASA footage has long been fodder for UFO buffs and conspiracy theorists who comb through countless photos and hours of video looking for evidence of alien life (or evidence that NASA is covering up evidence of extraterrestrials).

Read more: Why Mars Rover Curiosity Is Likely to Find 'Martians' | Space.com