Mars Soil Found To Contain Toxin, Hope Of Finding Life Shrinks

Boston (dbTechno) - The hope of finding life on the planet Mars shrunk, as the Phoenix Mars lander has found the existence of a toxic chemical in the soil of Mars.

The toxic chemical is known as perchlorate, and is often used in solid rocket fuel.

Researchers are a bit dumbfounded by this discovery, as they are unsure if the chemical actually made it to Mars when it traveled from Earth, or if it is really in the soil.

The researchers have reported their results to this point, but will continue to run several more soil tests to see if the chemical is truly present.

This comes just after the Phoenix Mars lander took its first ice sample from the red planet last week.

Researchers are not giving up hope, as they believe life still may have existed on Mars.