Mars spoon
In picture: A spoon-like object was seen on Mars in one of the images sent by the Curiosity rover.NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is doing a stellar job of photographing Mars using its Curiosity rover, and curious individuals down on Earth are complementing them by spotting strange structures on the surface of the Red Planet.

This time, the keen eyes at YouTube channel UFO hunter have managed to spot what appears to be a kitchen utensil among the rocks and dust in one of the photos. The US space agency says about the photo: "This image was taken by Mastcam: Left (MAST_LEFT) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity."

The big question now is whether this is indeed a really dusty, rusty spoon or just a curious rock formation. Now, such images are not uncommon on Mars, with previous NASA photos leading to discoveries of "reptiles," and even "chairs." However, it will not be immediately clear if the current discovery is indeed a real spoon, simply because NASA — or any other space programme of any other country — does not have the equipment or the facilities up there to test this. 

For that to happen, humans may well have to wait till 2022, when NASA plans to send a manned mission to the fourth planet from the sun. But the Curiosity rover has already discovered organic materials on Mars, leading to the theory that even if life does not exist on the planet as of now, it would have had at some point in the past. 

Now, if this proves to be true and there was indeed life on Mars a long time ago, with a developed civilisation, it could make sense of all the things — like this spoon or the aforementioned chair — that are popping up on the Martian surface. Otherwise, these would be chalked up to corrosion, leading to some interesting rock patterns on the enigmatic planet. 

Watch the UFO Hunter video here: