A Martian packet is an IP packet which specifies a source or destination address that is reserved for special-use by Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). If seen on the public internet, these packets cannot actually originate as claimed, or be delivered. However, certain reserved addresses can be routed using multicast, or on private networks, local links, or loopback interfaces, depending on which special-use range they fall within.
Martian packets commonly arise from IP address spoofing in denial-of-service attacks, but can also arise from network equipment malfunction or misconfiguration...