Washington, Feb 1 (IANS): It comes straight from Ripley’s Believe it or not. NASA is being sued for not investigating a genuine life form on red planet!

It pertains to the mystery Mars rock that had appeared in front of Mars rover Opportunity.

Petitioner Rhawn Joseph thinks that it was proof of alien life on Mars and that NASA is unwilling to investigate any further.

Joseph says it is actually a “mushroom-like fungus, a composite organism consisting of colonies of lichen and cyanobacteria - known on earth Apothecium”.

He claims he’s an astro-biologist with a long string of papers published in 'leading journals', reported Popular Science.

Lead scientist Steve Squyres of NASA’s Mars exploration rover Opportunity had reportedly said that the origin of the object in question was a mystery and that it had left his team baffled as to where it came from.

Scientists hypothesise that the rock is either from a nearby meteorite fall or the rock was flipped out of place by the rover as it turned on the spot.