Mars Flower

Image of Mars suggests flower growth. Our investigation proves otherwise.

The NASA rover Curiosity has captured an image that some observers have likened to a flower on Mars. These same observers achieved fame many years ago when they confirmed that "the cow jumped over the moon."
It is time for us to be realistic in our expectation of Mars. Although the Man from Mars might be far superior to the Man from Earth, in that the Mars man might actually know how to clean a toilet, we mustn't let ourselves be lulled into a romantic approach to science.

Millions of children have been mislead by the chant of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," an obnoxious tune that leads them to believe that stars: a) twinkle, and  b) are little. Further misinformation was spread to young ears in the 1940 Disney movie, Pinocchio, asserting that when you wish upon a star it makes no difference who you are. That is clearly not true. As a child I wished I were Hungarian.

A rarely seen Mars photo.

As for the Mars flower, there is more to the story. Not shown in the press release photos is this one taken just a few yards away from the famous flower picture. It reveals a landfill operation on Mars being conducted by the municipality of  New York City, pressed to the limit on its volume of garbage. The Mars flower my just be loose debris.

The arc shape of the Mars flower suggests it is either a crumpled lid from a styrofoam cup, or a styrofoam packing noodle from a Chinese import gift item. But even that is conjecture.

Note revealing curve as in Mars photo.

The enemy of science is narrow thinking. Let's not jump to conclusions about the Mars flower. The images could be of styrofoam, or fungi, or even discarded toenails clippings from Bigfoot, who might actually be from Mars and has gone home. Some angles of the formation resemble a wedding ring. I personally see a resemblance to sun-bleached Mac 'n cheese.

Let's not draw conclusions yet. Let's remember the mistake of the famous radio singer, Kate Smith, who sang a lyric about space in 1938 that inadvertently insulted all overweight people:

"I'll be looking at the moon, but I'll be seeing You!"