blobrana
03-28-04, 04:59 PM
Hum,
There are a few `rumours` going around about that a strong signal of life on Mars has been detected by scientists at the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) and the European Space Agency.
<b>Neither Nasa nor the European Space Agency (ESA) has publicly announced the findings.</b>
But, it seems as if each group has independently discovered evidence of methane in the Martian atmosphere.
The detection of methane has been the <i>holy grail</i> of scientists studying the Martian atmosphere, as its presence could provide unequivocal proof that there is life beyond Earth.
(Methane, a waste product of living organisms on Earth, could also be a by-product of alien microbes living under the surface of the Red Planet).
Mars Express detected the presence of methane in the Martian atmosphere, something of the order of 10 or 10.5 parts per billion...
Methane is destroyed by the intense ultraviolet radiation on Mars because the gas has a relatively short photochemical lifetime of about 300 years, so if it is present there must be something producing it continually. Its presence is significant and very important. because if it is present you need a source...
The second group to detect detected variations in the concentrations of methane, with a peak coming from the <i>ancient Martian seabed of Meridiani Planum</i> was Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Centre in Maryland (?), who used powerful Earth based spectroscopic telescopes.
Meridiani Planum is currently being explored by a Nasa rover.
This discovery could indicate a <i>subterranean source</i> of methane which is pumping out the gas, perhaps because of the presence of living (or fossilised, eg coal) organisms producing it as a waste gas.
(It's difficult to imagine that primordial methane from geological activity would continue out-gassing four billion years).
There are a few `rumours` going around about that a strong signal of life on Mars has been detected by scientists at the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) and the European Space Agency.
<b>Neither Nasa nor the European Space Agency (ESA) has publicly announced the findings.</b>
But, it seems as if each group has independently discovered evidence of methane in the Martian atmosphere.
The detection of methane has been the <i>holy grail</i> of scientists studying the Martian atmosphere, as its presence could provide unequivocal proof that there is life beyond Earth.
(Methane, a waste product of living organisms on Earth, could also be a by-product of alien microbes living under the surface of the Red Planet).
Mars Express detected the presence of methane in the Martian atmosphere, something of the order of 10 or 10.5 parts per billion...
Methane is destroyed by the intense ultraviolet radiation on Mars because the gas has a relatively short photochemical lifetime of about 300 years, so if it is present there must be something producing it continually. Its presence is significant and very important. because if it is present you need a source...
The second group to detect detected variations in the concentrations of methane, with a peak coming from the <i>ancient Martian seabed of Meridiani Planum</i> was Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Centre in Maryland (?), who used powerful Earth based spectroscopic telescopes.
Meridiani Planum is currently being explored by a Nasa rover.
This discovery could indicate a <i>subterranean source</i> of methane which is pumping out the gas, perhaps because of the presence of living (or fossilised, eg coal) organisms producing it as a waste gas.
(It's difficult to imagine that primordial methane from geological activity would continue out-gassing four billion years).