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Is Mars A Green Planet?
linuxator writes: "While scientists were looking at stuff that Pathfinder collected from the red planet, they discovered that they may be looking at chlorophyll. What does it prove if it really is chlorophyll? Well, chlorophyll is that green stuff in plants... So figure it out yourself :) "
Remember when everybody was all excited about cold-fusion but then it turned out that Feldmeyer and Smythe had made some basic methodological and even mathematical errors? Same thing here. Back in the Sixties people speculated that there might be water on Mars based on what they thought were icecaps on the poles (particular the northern pole which is inclined towards Earth during the summer months).
Only it turns out that water on Mars is an impossibility. Combining H2 with O is an entropic process, meaning it requires quite a bit of energy (specifically E = Lf*m where Lf is the heat of fusion of water). Mars has been shown to be too far from the Sun to get enough energy per square meter to build up any significant quantities of H2O. (The little that does get formed quickly combines with the iron in the soil to create the famous rust-red of color of Mars).
Unfortunately, much in the same way that valuable research dollars and talent is being wasted in looking for free energy from desktop fusion, some people cannot let go of the attractive idea that Mars might contain some life-sustaining water.