Methane on Mars?

Last updated on: January 30, 2019 at 1:22 pm by Dan Peterson

Methane on Mars? 2019-01-30T13:22:42-07:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Mars, in a public domain image from the United States Geological Survey

Notes from the 22 December 2018 print edition of The Economist, from an article entitled “The search for life on Mars: New results suggest there is no methane on Mars: Living organisms are thus less likely”:

Most of the methane in Earth’s atmosphere derives from living organisms, so discovering methane in the atmosphere of Mars would be strongly suggestive of Martian life.

Alas, though, the preliminary results from the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, a European spacecraft that has been orbiting Mars for the past two years, reveal no Martian methane. They were shared on 12 November 2018 at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union, in Washington DC.

Some previous observations, drawn both from orbiters and from terrrestrial telescopes, had suggested otherwise. And the data from the American Mars rover Curiosity, which spent six years sampling on the Martian surface, did seem to find methane and even to detect seasonal variations ranging from 0.25 parts per billion in the winter to 0.65 parts per billion during the summer — occasionally spiking all the way up to a relatively whopping 7.0 parts per billion.

Where would that surface methane originate? It might come from space, via carbon-rich molecules arriving aboard meteors and then breaking down into methane. Or it might arise beneath the surface of Mars, perhaps concentrated near its source (which Curiosity might have been lucky enough to find). Subsurface methane could come from a geological or geochemical process that might be heightened during the (relative) warmth of a Martian summer. Perhaps, if it’s biological, there might be a subsurface organism that wakes up during the summer.

But methane should persist for centuries. So the fact that the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, which features instrumentation that’s twenty times more sensitive than that aboard Curiosity, has failed to find even the slightest trace of methane in the Martian atmosphere is discouraging for those who hoped for signs of organic life.

The optimists haven’t given up, though. The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter can’t sample anything lower than five kilometers above the Martian surface. And, by sheer bad luck, when it flew over the specific area explored by Curiosity, a dust storm obstructed its view of anything within thirty kilometers of the surface.

At least I think that we can confidently rule out any idea that the surface of Mars resembles a giant New Zealand sheep paddock.

This doesn’t appear to be a satellite photo from Mars. (Wikimedia Commons public domain)

***

A very slightly related story:

“4bn-year-old ‘Earth rock’ found in Apollo 14 crew’s moon haul: Scientists say rock must have been blasted to moon, buried then uncovered by asteroid impacts”

***

In other science news:

“In Iran, parched lands hollowed by water pumping now sinking”

Surprising and refreshing:

“Anne Hathaway’s Lesson on Celebrity Pseudoscience”

Uncategorized

Previous Post

January 30, 2019

"What happens to a dream deferred?"

Next Post

January 30, 2019 "Defending the faith intelligently"

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What was the name of the Roman governor who sentenced Jesus to death?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Pontius Pilate Caesar Augustus Herod Antipas Tiberius