Vulcan Administrator
Astrobiology Magazine begins a series of articles:
Interplanetary Whodunit
Methane on Mars
EDIT: link corrected.On Earth, methane is mostly produced by life. The recent detection of methane in the martian atmosphere therefore has given rise to much speculation about the possibility for life on the Red Planet. Part one of this four-part series about methane and Mars provides an overview of the recent findings.ops:
Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.
Administrator
That seems to be the wrong link. :-?Originally Posted by ToSeek
Order of Kilopi
May I try?
Interplanetary Whodunit
Methane on Mars
(Unless... maybe the real whodunit is: who killed Scotty?)
Vulcan Administrator
Part Two:
Methane on Earth
On Earth, methane is mostly produced by life. The recent detection of methane in the martian atmosphere therefore has given rise to much speculation about the possibility for life on the Red Planet. In part two of this four-part series, the various ways nature produces methane are considered.
Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.
Vulcan Administrator
Part Three:
Mystery Methane Maker
If the global concentration of methane on Mars is 10 ppb, then an average of 4 grams of methane is being destroyed every second by sunlight. That means about 126 metric tons of methane must be produced each year to ensure a steady concentration of 10 ppb.
Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.
Vulcan Administrator
Part Four
Proving the Case
Are microbes making the methane that's been found on Mars, or does the hydrocarbon gas come from geological processes? It's the question that everybody wants to answer, but nobody can. What will it take to convince the jury?
Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.
Senior Member
Road trip!!!What will it take to convince the jury?
Vulcan Administrator
New Scientist article:
Methane on Mars: the plot thickens
Methane on Mars may be produced at rates 3000 times higher than previously thought and partially destroyed by dust storms, controversial new research suggests.
The work is sure to reignite the debate over a possible biological origin for the gas, but another team reports that subsurface volcanism alone - and not life - can account for the gas.
Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.
Vulcan Administrator
Methane on Mars
Mars keeps surprising the experts. Consider methane (CH4), for example. On Earth, some 90 percent of this gas comes from biological sources that include cows, termites, rice plants, and other lifeforms. Geological processes such as volcanism contribute hardly any methane at all.
Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.
Order of Dr. Kilopi
is it possible, via spectral analysis, to find sources of Methane?
is seems we could do that. If we can track an origin then the next rovers/men to get there could look specifically for Methane production.
Vulcan Administrator
Volcanoes ruled out for Martian methane
New observations of the Martian atmosphere show no trace of sulphurous fumes. The finding rules out active volcanoes as the source of the Red Planet's mysterious methane, but fails to resolve the question of where the methane comes from.
Methane breaks down when exposed to sunlight, so its discovery in the Martian atmosphere two years ago meant that something on the planet was continually producing more of the gas. Most astronomers suspected its presence was the result of a geological process, while a few suggested the methane was the signature of past or present life.
Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.
Order of Kilopi
I disagree with the final statement by Lyons that "biogenesis" should be a last resort for explaining the presence of methane. I understand why it is, I just disagree with it.
Work Bolsters Life on Mars Theories.
So how long before people are ready to accept even microbial life on Mars?
Order of Kilopi
When it's found in situ?
Established Member
All this is probably just a pointless exercise. Even if we eliminate every known non-biological mechanism for the production of methane, we still will not be able to conclusively say it proves the existence of life on Mars. Someone could reasonably object that there might be such a mechanism that we just have not thought of yet. We will not conclusively know until we can culture Martian microbes.
Established Member
Maybe the methane comes from Titan. Interplanetary probes from Titan are bringing along methane. Could make for a followup to War of the Worlds.
Established Member
I think it's fine to be conservative -- that's the way science is supposed to work. Extraordinary claims and all that... It can be very frustrating for the general public who typically prefer more sensational theories and conclusions - hence all those career opportunites in the field of pseudo-science.
Established Member
Rice plants? I think not. Rice paddies, absolutely.
Banned
I accept the possibilty A.DIM. But that don't mean a 'hill of beans' as we would say here in the "Keystone State" without the results. That's the way it as science sees it .. but --
This might surprise you my Kentuckian friend .. I do believe there is live on Mars.
Established Member
I've an idea that due to Mars being a smaller, colder world that methane is produced via the same processes as here on Earth, but in much smaller quantities. I think that life and processes within the planet are responsible, just as they are on Earth.
The scientific community seems to be trying to isolate one process or the other as being responsible. Why? Couldn't more than one process be taking place on Mars which results in methane?
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