While the image in question was an authentic photo captured by a camera aboard the NASA Curiosity rover on May 7, 2022, the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory told Snopes that, what some social media users interpreted to be a “portal and a wall,” was actually a rock crevice on the red planet.

That was because while something depicted in the grainy, black-and-white version of the photograph taken by a camera aboard the rover could be interpreted to resemble the shape of a door, the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) told Snopes that it actually was a “very, very, very zoomed in shot of a tiny crevice in a rock.”

“The team’s scientists underlined just how small [the crevice] is: roughly 30 centimeters wide and 45 centimeters across (11 by 17 inches),” a JPL spokesperson said via email. “They said there are linear fractures throughout this outcrop, and this is a location where several linear fractures happen to intersect.”

The photograph was taken by the Mast Camera (Mastcam) outfitted aboard Curiosity, a system that uses fixed-focal length, multispectral imagers to capture “true color” images of the red planet and beyond. The “door” image was captured on May 7, 2022, which is also Sol 3466 — the 3,466th solar day on Mars, or a Mars-day.

NASA media relations team also referred us to a publicly available, digital mosaic of photos that the rover also captured. Neville Thompson, who is not affiliated with NASA, created the piece, which showed contents of the in-question image within the broader marscape.

Non so se ho capito bene. Le dimensioni della porta sono 45x30cm?

Circa. Forse di più. Ma poco di più.