New York: Fuelling speculation that advanced civilization once thrived on Mars, NASA's Curiosity rover has found a pyramid-like structure on the Red Planet, media reports said.

This image that bears an uncanny resemblance to the Great Pyramid in Egypt was captured by Mastcam: Right on-board NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on May 7.

Estimated to be the size of a small car, it could also be the capstone of a much larger pyramid buried beneath the Martian sand, Exopolitics reported.

This "pyramid" image has stargazers believing that intelligent life exists or once thrived on Mars, Starpulse.com said.

What stands out about the photograph is the straight-line geometry and symmetry of the structure.

A telltale sign that differentiates a natural formation from a man-made one is its angles and lines. In this case, the picture resembles smooth angular shapes that are equivalent in scope.

The pyramid is among the clearest photographic evidence collected so far that artificial structures exist on Mars built by an earlier civilization, the Exopolitics report said. (IANS)