NASA Finds Ancient Organic Material, Mysterious Methane on Mars

[editor]

Now this is interesting!

NASA’s Curiosity rover has found new evidence preserved in rocks on Mars that suggests the planet could have supported ancient life, as well as new evidence in the Martian atmosphere that relates to the search for current life on the Red Planet. While not necessarily evidence of life itself, these findings are a good sign for future missions exploring the planet’s surface and subsurface.

The new findings – “tough” organic molecules in three-billion-year-old sedimentary rocks near the surface, as well as seasonal variations in the levels of methane in the atmosphere – appear in the June 8 edition of the journal Science.

Organic molecules contain carbon and hydrogen, and also may include oxygen, nitrogen and other elements. While commonly associated with life, organic molecules also can be created by non-biological processes and are not necessarily indicators of life.

“With these new findings, Mars is telling us to stay the course and keep searching for evidence of life,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, in Washington. “I’m confident that our ongoing and planned missions will unlock even more breathtaking discoveries on the Red Planet.”

“Curiosity has not determined the source of the organic molecules,” said Jen Eigenbrode of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, who is lead author of one of the two new Science papers. “Whether it holds a record of ancient life, was food for life, or has existed in the absence of life, organic matter in Martian materials holds chemical clues to planetary conditions and processes.”

NASA Finds Ancient Organic Material, Mysterious Methane on Mars

 

[editor]

 

[agricola]

Fascinating news, though you would hope that if the evidence for current life on Mars begins to start piling up then we really should abandon any attempts to have a manned exploration of the surface.

 

[Baronage-Phase]

Between this and the methane they detected a few years ago...it's pretty interesting...

 

[editor]

More here:

 

[NoXion]

It's the methane findings that I find particularly fascinating. It could could still be generated by some geological process, but I'm hard pressed to think of what exactly. Anyone more knowledgeable about geology?

 

[editor]

Looking forward: Curiosity Didn't Find Life on Mars — But These 2 Future Rovers Might

 

[weltweit]

Curiosity takes too many selfies to be taken as a serious scientist

 

[ska invita]

Between this and the methane they detected a few years ago...it's pretty interesting...

Depends how interesting you find methane

 

[Baronage-Phase]

Depends how interesting you find methane

Lol...

Well....
The fluctuating seasonal methane values on Mars are very interesting...

 

[NoXion]

Depends how interesting you find methane

Methane is a very interesting molecule. One of the simplest hydrocarbons, prevalent in both biology here on Earth as well as across the wider universe, consisting as it does of one of the sixth and four of the first most common elements in the universe. It can be made artificially using hydrogen and carbon dioxide in the Sabatier process, meaning that we have an endless supply of carbon neutral fuel for internal combustion engines, once it's worked out how to power grids without fossil fuels. It is odourless in pure form, other substances give biogenic methane its smells. There's massive amounts of methane that could be released by sufficient climate change, which is interesting and also alarming.

 

[editor]

Update: What's Eating Mars' Methane? ExoMars Results Deepen Mystery

Scientists have been puzzling over the presence of methane on Mars for years.

The gas has been detected previously on the Red Planet. Because much of the methane on Earth has a biological origin, scientists have been tantalized by the prospect that methane on Mars could come from living organisms, too.

Now, the mystery deepens. Today (April 10), researchers reported the first results from the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), the spacecraft that's been circling the Red Planet sniffing for signs of life as part of the European-led ExoMars mission. To the surprise of scientists, TGO found barely any traces of methane in its early observations from April 2018 to August 2018

 

[mwgdrwg]

Update: What's Eating Mars' Methane? ExoMars Results Deepen Mystery

They should've run the scan the day after the martians have ther curry night

 

[editor]

First mysterious methane and now odd oxygen!

1st Methane, Now Oxygen: Another Possible 'Biosignature' Gas Is Acting Weird on Mars