3I/Atlas, 'first contact or existential threat'? Why some netizens are convinced something is wrong

Social media is abuzz with the new photo of interstellar comet 3I/Atlas taken by a Mars rover. While the world waits for the first photos of the object taken by Mars orbiters, NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover has snapped a photo that has sent netizens and astronomy enthusiasts into a tizzy. The photo shows 3I/Atlas as a perfect white cylinder soaring above the Martian sky. The absence of a tail or any fuzzy material around it has netizens convinced that it could be an alien spaceship and not a comet, a claim made by Harvard scientist Avi Loeb. Sharing the photo, a user wrote on X, "A perfect glowing cylinder drifting across the Martian sky. No dust plume. No fragmentation. Just… structure." The odd shape has added more supporters to the "alien mothership" theory. Several people think that 3I/Atlas isn't a comet but a piece of alien technology.

"The newest and closest of 3I/Atlas as it passes Mars right this moment, minutes ago. It's not a comet...its perfectly cylindrical. Its an interstellar craft of some kind," another user wrote, citing images taken by the Navcam on the Perseverance rover. But why do we only have a single photo taken by a rover when the orbiters were best positioned to capture 3I/Atlas? No space agency has revealed its observations of the interstellar object. The photo, combined with the fact that no official release on what the Mars orbiters saw, has triggered the biggest discussion on social media. Should we be worried about 3I/Atlas? Could it really be an alien spaceship coming for Earth?

Also Read: 3I/Atlas photo captured from Mars: 'Perfect glowing cylinder' triggers debate

Why have space agencies gone silent on 3I/Atlas? People are wondering

Some people are convinced that something sinister is going on with 3I/Atlas as NASA, ESA and China's space agency have gone silent. NASA shut down exactly when the interstellar object was flying by Mars. ESA is yet to make any revelations about 3I/Atlas and everything two of its orbiters would have captured while hovering over Mars. A user wrote, "Only NASA and ESA have Mars Orbiter images and videos of 3i ATLAS, and they classify them again as TOP SECRET. The public has no access to any official image of 3I/ATLAS since 27-Aug-2025." The most concerning thing, people say, is China's silence, since if it has captured something, it would use it to flex its muscles in the international space race. So why has it not released anything yet?

Also Read: 3I/Atlas flies by Mars - NASA or ESA? Whose orbiter can get the sharpest shots of the comet?

One user thinks that this is a sign that something is not right with 3I/Atlas. He wrote, "The only plausible explanation: All five agencies saw something that requires coordinated response. Artificial confirmation is a species-level event, not a national one—U.S.-China rivalry becomes irrelevant if both face potential first contact or existential threat."

3I/Atlas anomalies

3I/Atlas is not like a regular comet observed in the solar system. It was officially discovered on July 1, and since then, several anomalies have been flagged. Its trajectory revealed that it was coming from outside our solar system. 3I/Atlas is only the third interstellar object spotted by humans. It has a strange trajectory, as it moves in a straight path which brings it near several planets, including Mars and Jupiter. Its size is also a topic of debate, as some astronomers think it is only about a kilometre wide, while Avi Loeb says data suggest that it is 46 kilometres in diameter and has a mass of 33 billion tonnes. 3I/Atlas is also moving very fast - 210,000 km/hour. Avi Loeb says, assuming it is as large as we think, it defies the rules of space with its speed.