Saturday, January 17, 2009

mars, dead or alive?

From ScienceDaily: Mars May Still Be A Living Planet, Methane in Atmosphere Reveals

Scientists have discovered that methane is being released on Mars, which means something interesting is going on there, whether geological or biological. Apparently, it's a lot of methane, too.
"Methane is quickly destroyed in the Martian atmosphere in a variety of ways, so our discovery of substantial plumes of methane in the northern hemisphere of Mars in 2003 indicates some ongoing process is releasing the gas," said Michael Mumma of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "At northern mid-summer, methane is released at a rate comparable to that of the massive hydrocarbon seep at Coal Oil Point in Santa Barbara, Calif."

No comments: