Red Planet Drama

Mysterious Mars lights cover-up? UFO theorists don't buy NASA's explanation of phenomenon

A mysterious beam of light spotted by the Mars Curiosity rover has UFO enthusiasts over the moon, leading NASA to release an official statement quelling Internet rumors of alien nightclubs and secret underground civilizations.

Taken April 2 and 3, the images in question feature a vertical white speck shining up from a distant Martian hilltop. NASA experts remain committed to several simple explanations, like an unusual sunlight reflection or a glitch in a camera nearly 60 million miles from Earth.

But for conspiracy theorists and alien enthusiasts, the white blips are only further photographic evidence of life on Mars — something they allege the United States government wants to keep under wraps for reasons unknown.

Noted UFO bloggers like Scott C. Waring point to the manner in which the light appears to emanate directly from the barren landscape.

"This could indicate there is intelligent life below the ground and they use light as we do," Waring wrote Monday on his UFO Sightings Daily website, which includes a host of Curiosity images showing Martian rocks shaped like statues and humanoid faces.

"This is not a glare from the sun, nor is it an artifact of the photo process. ... Sure NASA could go and investigate it, but hey, they are not on Mars to discover life, but they're there to stall its discovery."

In a statement released this week after the speculation over the lights grew, Justin Maki of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory insists that that white spots like these are not uncommon in the thousands of images regularly sent from the Mars rover. He says similar visual anomalies are seen by the Curiosity team "nearly every week," most of which are likely caused by cosmic rays or sunlight reflecting off rock surfaces.

Maki, who help build Curiosity's stereoscopic camera system, also notes that the white spots were only seen in one of the camera's two "eyes." As such, researchers have struggled to pinpoint the exact source of the bright light — giving UFO fans a kernel of hope.

NASA officials and conspiracy theorists are scratching their heads about a mysterious beam of light photographed by the Mars Curiosity rover.

1 Mars attacks NASA images UFO Mars Curiosity rover

Photo courtesy of NASA

NASA officials and conspiracy theorists are scratching their heads about a mysterious beam of light photographed by the Mars Curiosity rover.

unspecified

THE FUTURE IS NOW

Self-driving Waymo robotaxis can now be hailed in Dallas

Waymo/ FacebookWa

Waymo is now offering driverless rides to San Antonians.

Waymo will begin dispatching its robotaxis in Dallas and four more cities in Texas and Florida, expanding the territory covered by its fleet of self-driving cars to 10 major U.S. metropolitan markets.

The move into Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Orlando, Florida, announced Tuesday, February 24, widens Waymo's early lead in autonomous driving while rival services from Tesla and the Amazon-owned Zoox are still testing their vehicles in only a few U.S. cities.

In contrast, Waymo's robotaxis already provide more than 400,000 weekly trips in the six metropolitan areas where they have been transporting passengers: Phoenix, the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Miami, Atlanta, and Austin.

Waymo operates its ride-hailing service through its own app in all the U.S. cities except Atlanta and Austin, where its robotaxis can only be summoned through Uber's ride-hailing service.

In Dallas, they'll partner with Avis, according to a release — offering their ride-hailing service through the Waymo app, with a fleet managed through a new multi-year partnership with Avis Budget Group, whose expertise will help Waymo scale the Waymo Driver even faster.

Avis will provide end-to-end fleet management services, including infrastructure, vehicle readiness, maintenance, and general depot operations.

Dallas' downtown metro area is considered well suited for Waymo's 24/7 autonomous ride-hailing service. They also aim to improve road safety and partner with the city of Dallas on its "Vision Zero" plan to eliminate all traffic-related deaths and reduce severe injury crashes by 50 percent by 2030.

The expansion into four more markets marks a significant step toward Waymo's goal to surpass 1 million weekly paid trips by the end of 2026. Without identifying where its robotaxis will be available next, Waymo is targeting a list of eight other cities that include Las Vegas, Washington, Detroit, and Boston while signaling its first overseas availability is likely to be London.

To help pay for more robotaxis, Waymo recently raised $16 billion as part of the financial infusion that puts the value of the company at $126 billion. The valuation fueled speculation that Waymo may eventually be spun off from its corporate parent Alphabet, where it began as a secret project within Google in 2009.

Although Waymo is opening up in four more cities, its robotaxis initially will only be made available to a limited number of people with its ride-hailing app in Dallas, San Antonio, Houston, and Orlando before the service will be available to all corners in those markets.

---
Teresa Gubbins contributed to this story.

ride share technology innovation transportation