Mars Methane

DEAD OR ALIVE? Astrobiologists have detected the presence of methane gas in the atmosphere of Mars, indicating that the planet is indeed “alive,” either in a geologic or biologic sense. It is still unclear whether the methane was produced by purely geologic processes such as the oxidation of iron, or by microscopic organisms living in the Martian sub-surface. Finding plumes of it that persist (only during the Martian Spring and Summer) indicates that some ongoing, seasonal process is releasing the gas. Methane-producing microbes were one of the earliest forms of life on Earth, so if there’s life on Mars today, it could be making the methane from carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere. The highest concentrations of methane are represented in red in this image. Image Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

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