ALIENS are living in underground tunnels on Mars formed by lava billions of years ago, experts suspect.
They could be hiding out in them to escape the planet’s inhospitable surface, it is claimed.
Aliens could be hiding out in tunnels to escape Mars’ inhospitable surfaceCredit: Getty – Contributor
There are more than 1,000 caves on the planet and researchers are calling on Nasa to send a robot to explore them.
Mars is about 33million miles away and cosmic radiation makes its surface inhospitable, which is why aliens may have delved underground.
In a lecture delivered to the third interplanetary conference in Texas, US in February, a team of stargazing academics set out their mission concept.
US scientist Charity Phillips-Lander said: “If life exists there it will probably be best maintained in the sub-surface.”
Her team of boffins want Nasa to explore whether there are any signs of past or present life inside the lava tubes.
They suggest sending either a rock climbing robot, two-wheeled robot or an unmanned drone to explore the caverns.
The boffins anticipate technological advancements will make the mission possible within the next decade.
Mars is about 33million miles away and cosmic radiation makes its surface inhospitableCredit: Getty – Contributor
It is also hoped humans will one day be able to colonise the lava caves on Mars and the Moon.
Pascal Leem, a planetary researcher at NASA Ames Research Centre in Califgornia, added: “On Mars and other places, lava tubes have the potential to have made the difference between life and death.”