In 1976, an image of Mars' surface captured by the NASA Viking space probe offered some hope that mankind may not be alone, drifting in the vacuum of space on a small blue marble circling the Sun. The image captured by the probe seemed to show the image of man's face, leading to a vast array of non-scientific theories -- from conspiracies claiming that the U.S. government was covering up knowledge of Martians to thoughts that the area might one day be ripe for future astronauts to explore if they were looking for proof that some kind of human-like ancient civilization once existed elsewhere in the Solar System.

Some scientists, in their heart of hearts, may have silently held onto hope for the latter. And unfortunately for them, such dreams were dashed when a new image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured a new image of the area showing nothing but a crumbling mesa.

As for the conspiracy theorists, a survey of websites shows while some are admitting they've lost face, to make an obvious pun, others are retrenching.

Image: NASA's images of the same place on Mars in 1976 and 2010