Europe's Mars orbiter finds no trace of methane on Red Planet

[Admin]

The European/Russian Trace Gas Orbiter found no signs of gases related to the existence of life in the atmosphere of Mars, according to three recently published studies.

Europe's Mars orbiter finds no trace of methane on Red Planet : Read more

 

[rod]

My observation. Other reports by space.com show Mars conditions could erase evidence of past life on the planet too (assuming life was there in the past). Curiosity rover discovers that evidence of past life on Mars may have been erased, https://www.space.com/mars-life-evidence-erased, 17-July-2021.

The search for life on Mars continues. The desire to establish abiogenesis takes place somewhere else in the universe, other than on Earth appears to be a driving force, my opinion. If Mars cannot be shown to have life today or in the past, then hopes for Venus or Europa or Enceladus can continue. If these locations fail to confirm life there today or in the past, the case for abiogenesis taking place on other worlds like among the exoplanets becomes more difficult to maintain, my opinion. At the moment, the scientific method confirms that life is here on Earth and we see biogenesis at work in nature. So far, the scientific method does not confirm life on Mars today or in the past.

 

[newworldsexplr]

The European/Russian Trace Gas Orbiter found no signs of gases related to the existence of life in the atmosphere of Mars, according to three recently published studies.

Europe's Mars orbiter finds no trace of methane on Red Planet : Read more

There was a recent study, I think also reported on www.space.com, that mentioned the idea that The ExoMars Trace Gas Observer measures methane or other trace gases, such as also phosphine, in the day time while the NASA Mars Curiosity rover usually measures methane at night. There was a study reported last month around the end of June 2021 in which astronomer John E. Moores from York University in Toronto, Canada observed that usually The ExoMars Trace Gas Observer observes Mars and seeks to measure methane or other trace gases in the Martian daytime while Curiosity usually measures methane and perhaps other gases in the Martian atmosphere in the local area of Gale Crater at the Martian night. Professor Moores suggested that NASA should try to measure methane by Gale Crater in the daytime as reported in an article from the NASA or JPL website Curiosity News, Mars Exploration Program June 29, 2021 with title First You See It, Then You Don't: Scientists Closer to Explaining Mars Methane Mystery. The NASA Curiosity team followed up on the suggestion of Professor Moores, who is also a member of the Curiosity science team, by ordering Curiosity to take some measurements of methane in the Martian atmosphere in the daytime as well as the two adjacent nights before and after. When this was done it was discovered that the Curiosity rover detected almost no methane in the daytime, as the ExoMars Trace Gas Observer usually detects almost no methane in the daytime when it typically observes Mars. However the Curiosity rover detected about the regular background amount of methane in the preceding and following nights it usually detects from the surface of Gale Crater at night.

My question is what time of day on Mars were these latest observations for methane and phosphine taken by the ExoMars Trace Gas Observer as the earlier NASA article that could have also previously been reported on www.space.com stated that the basis of the discrepancy between the low values of methane measurements of the Curiosity rover and the almost zero values of the Trace Gas Observer are because in the daytime the methane goes up into the wider Martian atmosphere and mixes with it and gets diluted to give almost a zero value while at night the new methane emission is confined to near the local surface (such as in Gale Crater for the Curiosity Rover). What chance is there that the ExoMars Trace Gas Observer or some other current orbiting spacecraft could seek measurements of methane, phosphine or other trace gases at local Martian night to see if these gases can be found in detectable quantities at that time of day?

 

[Catastrophe]

"A joint European-Russian spacecraft orbiting Mars has found no signs of gases related to the existence of life in the atmosphere of Mars, according to three new studies."

How long after life has ceased would you expect to find such gases? Billions of years even? Methane is quite volatile, and look at the low pressure of Mars' atmosphere.

Cat

 

[sideband]

There was a recent study, I think also reported on www.space.com, that mentioned the idea that The ExoMars Trace Gas Observer measures methane or other trace gases, such as also phosphine, in the day time while the NASA Mars Curiosity rover usually measures methane at night. There was a study reported last month around the end of June 2021 in which astronomer John E. Moores from York University in Toronto, Canada observed that usually The ExoMars Trace Gas Observer observes Mars and seeks to measure methane or other trace gases in the Martian daytime while Curiosity usually measures methane and perhaps other gases in the Martian atmosphere in the local area of Gale Crater at the Martian night. Professor Moores suggested that NASA should try to measure methane by Gale Crater in the daytime as reported in an article from the NASA or JPL website Curiosity News, Mars Exploration Program June 29, 2021 with title First You See It, Then You Don't: Scientists Closer to Explaining Mars Methane Mystery. The NASA Curiosity team followed up on the suggestion of Professor Moores, who is also a member of the Curiosity science team, by ordering Curiosity to take some measurements of methane in the Martian atmosphere in the daytime as well as the two adjacent nights before and after. When this was done it was discovered that the Curiosity rover detected almost no methane in the daytime, as the ExoMars Trace Gas Observer usually detects almost no methane in the daytime when it typically observes Mars. However the Curiosity rover detected about the regular background amount of methane in the preceding and following nights it usually detects from the surface of Gale Crater at night.

My question is what time of day on Mars were these latest observations for methane and phosphine taken by the ExoMars Trace Gas Observer as the earlier NASA article that could have also previously been reported on www.space.com stated that the basis of the discrepancy between the low values of methane measurements of the Curiosity rover and the almost zero values of the Trace Gas Observer are because in the daytime the methane goes up into the wider Martian atmosphere and mixes with it and gets diluted to give almost a zero value while at night the new methane emission is confined to near the local surface (such as in Gale Crater for the Curiosity Rover). What chance is there that the ExoMars Trace Gas Observer or some other current orbiting spacecraft could seek measurements of methane, phosphine or other trace gases at local Martian night to see if these gases can be found in detectable quantities at that time of day?

Yes, you beat me to it. The previous www.space.com story you refer to gave a very plausible explanation of why Curiosity detected methane but the orbiting ExoMars TGO didn't. So I'm surprised that this later space.com report of ExoMars finding no methane didn't refer back to the previous story,and instead pitched the discrepancy with Curiosity's data as an unexplained mystery.....