Re: strong signal of life on Mars has been detected! -- AMIGA Astronomy

[ Show ]

Support VoyForums

[ Shrink ]

VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: [1], 2 ]

Subject: Re: strong signal of life on Mars has been detected!

Author:
Blobrana

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 06:25:43 03/29/04 Mon
In reply to: Blobrana 's message, "strong signal of life on Mars has been detected!" on 23:02:28 03/27/04 Sat

It was detected by telescopes on Earth and has recently been confirmed by instruments onboard the European Space Agency's orbiting Mars Express craft.

Methane must be being constantly replenished.
There are two possible ways to do this. Either active volcanoes, but none have yet been found on Mars, or microbes.

Astronomers have reported seeing the spectral signature of methane in the Martian atmosphere using several of the world's largest telescopes.
The Infrared telescope on Hawaii and the Gemini South observatory in Chile detected the gas last year, it has been revealed.

" Scientists see two possibilities, both of them scientifically important, one of them sensational "

Also scientists operating the Mars Express Planetary Fourier Spectrometer (FPS) announced that they have found the spectral signature of methane in the Martian atmosphere.

The twin Keck telescopes on Hawaii, have looked but have yet to report its findings.

Further evidence of methane on Mars will also be presented at a meeting in April by a consortium of astronomers using the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope.

It is possible that the methane is being produced by volcanic activity. Lava being deposited onto the surface, or released underground, could produce the gas.

That explanation has some difficulties, however. So far no active volcanic hotspots have been detected by the many spacecraft currently orbiting Mars.
If active volcanism is responsible then it is a major discovery with important implications. The sub-surface heat released by the volcano would melt the vast quantities of sub-surface ice discovered on Mars producing an environment suitable for life.

On Earth bacteria produce methane from hydrogen and carbon dioxide. Terrestrial microbes that produce methane do not need oxygen to thrive, and these are thought to be the type of microbes that could possibly live on Mars.

The twin rovers that landed on Mars in January will be unable to answer the question of the methane's origin as they are designed for geological work.

Future missions could include sensors to analyse the methane that may be able to determine if it is of biological origin.

The failed Beagle 2 mission had a device that could have sniffed the Martian atmosphere for methane.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

Subject	Author	Date
Re: strong signal of life on Mars has been detected!	Blobrana	14:58:24 02/02/05 Wed