Methane on Mars?

mbone writes "Two independent groups are claiming the detection of methane in the Martian atmosphere, one using the Mars Express orbiter, and the other using ground based telescopes. This detection, if confirmed, would be of great significance for the search of life on Mars, as Methane will not last long in the Martian atmosphere and thus must be renewed, presumably either by biological processes or by volcanic vents, which would be a good place for life to develop. The leader of the ground based astronomy team, Michael Mumma of the Goddard Space Flight Center, when asked if the methane was biological in origin, said 'I think it is, myself personally.'"

Comments

Uh-oh!

[LordK3nn3th]

This Crazy Wacko, Hoagland, is going to have a field day on this. He believes in all sorts of NASA coverups and apparently has a small following. He was mentioned recently on slashdot, as well, as the famous "Bad Astronomer" debunked some of his BS...

Well, what about...

[Professor Cool Linux]

Who's to say we haven't taken any bacteria to mars the past few Yrs.?????

Re:Well, what about...

[Hakubi_Washu]

Assuming we didn't take them there deliberately, one has to assume there can't be many. Those few might resist the unsupportive environment, though it is unlikely for them to prosper (Given that earth microbes are quite resistant, but would need serious adaption/evolution to accomplish more than simple survival). So, IF we have taken microbes there and some of them even survived, how likely is it that they already have a measureable impact on a planetary scale atmosphere? I personally tend to think it is most likely to find either active volcanism on mars or some sort of algae...

Terraforming Mars?

[kilogram]

According to this article at The Guardian, NASA is actually thinking of creating earth-like conditions on Mars. Will I get to visit Mars in my lifetime? My expiration date is sometime in the years around 2070.

BTW, has anyone seen Red Planet?

Outgassing stopped 4B years ago?

[craXORjack]

He added: "It's difficult to imagine that primordial methane [from geological activity] would continue outgassing for four billion years [the age of Mars]. This looks very intriguing."

Is he assuming that geological activity stopped 4 billion years ago? I believe it used to be assumed that Mars core had cooled to a solid state long ago, but a NASA release just last year concluded that the core is indeed still molten. But maybe the crust has cooled so much and become so thick that there are no plate tectonics to break the surface and release primordial hydrocarbons.

Can somebody explain something?

[sbaker]

The article says that methane in the atmosphere would decay over a few hundred years - so something is continuously renewing it...and that something is very likely to be life. Furthermore, we know (I think) that these hypothetical Martian beasts would have to be living underground in some very salty water.

OK - I can buy that - but I've been reading a bit about this subject - and I happened on this article:

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/mystery_mo nd ay_040308.html ...which is talking about weird bacteria on Earth and how they manage to survive deep underground in salty water:

"On Earth, organisms do thrive deep underground -- hundreds of feet below -- without a single ray of sunshine. They live off chemical energy instead, like methane or hydrogen produced in chemical interactions between water and rock."

Wooaaahhh. Hold ON a minute. "methane ... produced in chemical interactions between water and rock" ???

If methane can be produced between rock and water (eg: of the salty kind presumed to be found underground on Mars) then isn't the signature of 10 parts per billion of Methane in the atmosphere of Mars merely a further indication of underground water?

That's not what the 'experts' are saying though. Clearly I'm missing something - but I don't understand what.

Help?