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HOPES OF FINDING life on Mars suffered a setback after new findings from NASA’s Curiosity rover detected only trace amounts of methane gas in the Red Planet’s atmosphere, a study said today.
In the past decade, scientists have reported large “plumes” of methane in the Martian atmosphere, findings that have remained controversial because they were made on the basis of observations from Earth or an orbiting satellite.
Researchers said in March 2003 that they had found a cloud near the Martian equator containing some 19,000 tons of methane.
However, analysis of data from Curiosity’s onboard instruments shows only trace amounts of methane in Mars’s atmosphere.
Scientists said Curiosity’s findings indicated that the maximum level of methane was 1.3 parts per billion by volume — about six times lower than previous estimates.
The low atmospheric methane level greatly reduces chances that Martian soil contains living microbes or organic fossil materials that would produce the gas, scientists said.
Curiosity’s mission
The findings also reduce the likelihood of significant levels of methane being produced geologically or from meteorites, according to California Institute of Technology researcher Christopher Webster, co-author of the study published in the journal Science.
Previously identified methane plumes may have been the result of misinterpretations of observations, including those made from Earth-based telescopes, according to the researchers.
Curiosity, which touched down on the Martian equator in August 2012, has already established that Mars may have been hospitable to microbial life in the distant past.
In recent weeks, the robot has begun trundling on an eight-kilometre journey toward Mount Sharp, the two-year mission’s main target for exploration.
The journey is expected to take several months, with Curiosity stopping along the way to analyse geological formations.
The foot of Mount Sharp is of particular interest because sedimentary layers may reveal when Mars was suitable for life, according to NASA.
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Forgive my ignorance of science & biology , but genuine question: just because earth life forms produce methane…. Does it necessarily mean alien life forms do? Can we base the fundamentals of all possible life on what we have seen on earth? (Earth is a very small sample to use in the context of the universe!)
I don’t care what they do or don’t find tbh. They continuously blow my mind in what they achieve. They make me feel proud of men.
A tad sexist don’t you think?
No. I don’t think it’s sexist really as I’ve had an interest in space exploration for 30 years and I know the stories and names of many people involved from reading about it for years and they’re all men.
I see your point though.
All men? Niall? Here’s a link for you:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_female_astronauts
Valentina Tereschkova? (Apologies for the spelling!)
And the last several times I saw a launch there were a number of women in the control room, none of whom were handing round coffee or acting as secretaries!
I’m talking historically Mary. From landing on the moon to designing the rockets and shuttles – all the way back to the Wright sisters in fact :)
Mary, a little lady like you would be best placed catering to your husbands needs, rather than commenting on mens issues like this.
@Michael
No it doesn’t. However, life as it is on earth is the only kind we have to go on. If you want to search for another kind of life you’ll first have to come up with a hypothesis of what form it would take and then what indicators that life would produce. Have fun with that!
No point arguing in troll’s Mary
Wouldn’t waste my breath on ‘em.
Lol historically speaking that is.
Good. Time to have a look at Europa and Titan!
The Martians are underground here waiting. Do you guys not watch good quality cinema???
Some great documentaries on YouTube bout that but you’ve probably seen them. On a proxy iPhone right now so I can’t link them. Mind blowing stuff.
Some good documentaries about the structures and pyramids on mars in the area known as cydonia
And the face looking at you from Cydonia.
Richard C Hoagland is the leading investigator on the face , pyramids mars in general dozens of interviews n lectures out there for those who find the topic interesting
Yeah , the face disappeared on higher resolution images! Just a mountain after all!
Killjoy ….
Yeah they took the picture with the mons Olympus camera…
OMFG, we’ve regressed to the face on mars dumb-arsery.
you need to watch this…
Bet the martians are saying the exact same thing about earth!
No, they are saying “that rover you bought on ebay is outside Ted”.
Yes but the real question is whether life existed on Mars in the past, not now. If it can be shown that life existed there a long time ago, it opens questions about the origin of life on this planet.
I doubt the powers that be would tell us if they found proof of life
That’s the problem, they treat us like mushrooms.. keep us in the dark and feed us shite.
And fluoride!!!!
They’ve already come to the conclusion that it is possible Mars held life at one point. The problem is finding the concrete evidence is quite hard to achieve, especially when your only way of searching for the evidence is by firing probes in the direction of Mars and hoping they work if they get there.
Really! Bollix.
No point going back to paddy power then.
Interesting. Ur I bet there is life in a galaxy far far away.
With such a thin atmosphere, it’s no wonder that no methane was found. Any life that ever existed would’ve had to have come into being way back when Mars had an active core and magnetic field. Those days are long past, billions of years gone.
Titan’s our best bet in this solar system.
Europa.
Martians don’t fart…that’s what’s going on. A Dutch oven is impossible for them…..women of earth would love a Martian man
Live on Mars already migrated long ago to a place we call China today ;-.) Not too long now and those aliens (we call them Chinese) soon will take over the world…
…
What?
That’s not true, the Chinese are a great bunch of lads!
Obviously.
This is interesting. It’ll be a while still before it reaches Mount Sharp to calculate when life may have been possible. I remember reading about early astronomers who thought they saw canals on Mars’ surface but they were actually just scratches on their lenses they were looking at.
Mars looks at unhappy, maybe doesn’t like his photo being taken without permission..
have your say