Water Methane on Mars overlap

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marslauncher

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Water-methane link strengthen life-on-Mars clues<br /> <br />PARIS (AFP) Sep 20, 2004<br />The European Space Agency (ESA) said on Monday it had found concentrations of water vapour and the gas methane in the same places on Mars, a finding which strengthens speculation that the Red Planet could be a haven for microbial life.<br />Data obtained by the ESA probe Mars Express and the US spacecraft Mars Odyssey show that in some equatorial locations, low-atmosphere levels of water vapour and methane "significantly overlap," ESA said in a press statement.<br /><br />The concentrations also coincide with an ice layer a few tens of centimetres (a couple of feet) below the surface.<br /><br />These curiosities point to "a common underground source," such as volcanic or hydrothermal activity or, perhaps, bacterial life, which may exist in the water below the ice table, the agency said.<br /><br />In the latter case, the bacteria would produce methane as a natural living process. The gas would be released to the surface and thence to the atmsophere.<br /><br />"We have a new piece in a puzzle about understanding whether there is possible life, past or present, on Mars," ESA science spokesman Roberto Loverde said to AFP.<br /><br />Methane comprises just a tiny part of the Martian atmophere, 95 percent of which is carbon dioxide.<br /><br />The theory behind the presence of methane, a carbon-based gas, is that it would have have to be continuously produced by a source or had been produced relatively recently.<br /><br />This is because methane can only survive a few centuries in the Martian atmosphere before being oxidised to form water and carbon dioxide.<br />
 
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najab

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And the plot thickens....they need to get MARSIS online so we can get a good map of water ice distribution.
 
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marslauncher

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<br />MARSDAILY<br /><br />Researchers Detect Methane On Mars<br /><br />"While it's tantalizing to think there are living things on Mars, we aren't in a position to say that is what is causing the methane." <br />Ann Arbor MI (SPX) Oct 29, 2004<br />A University of Michigan scientist is part of a European Space Agency team that has detected methane gas on Mars, the clearest indicator yet that there could be life there, said Sushil Atreya, professor and director of the Planetary Science Laboratory in the College of Engineering.<br />"Biologically produced methane is one of many possibilities," Atreya said. "Methane is a potential biomarker, if a planet has methane we begin to think of the possibility of life on the planet. On Earth, methane is almost entirely derived from biological sources."<br /><br />Mars resembles Earth more than any other planet in our solar system, and studying its atmosphere gives us a greater understanding of our own.<br /><br />How the methane got to Mars is the big question, and there are several possible sources, Atreya said. The most exciting scenario is that methanogens - microbes that consume the Martian hydrogen or carbon monoxide for energy and exhale methane - dwell in colonies out of sight beneath the surface of the red planet.<br /><br />"These are anaerobic so they don't need oxygen to survive, if they are there," Atreya said. "If they are there, they would be underground."<br /><br />Speculation is tempting, but many more experiments are necessary before drawing any conclusions.<br /><br />"While it's tantalizing to think there are living things on Mars, we aren't in a position to say that is what is causing the methane," Atreya said.<br /><br />A comet could have struck the planet, which would leave methane behind, but that only happens once every 60 million years or so, Atreya said. A more likely scenario is hydrothermal process involving chemical interaction between rock and water in aquifers below the Martian permafrost.<br /><br />The instrumen
 
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