Is There Life on Mars? New NASA Findings Spark Curiosity…

For decades scientists have speculated on whether or not life exists on the Red Planet. Now, NASA’s futuristic robotic rover has picked up traces of methane, fuelling the theory that there could be life on Mars.

The six wheeled robot is aptly named Curiosity and detected fluctuating draughts of the gas while traversing the Red Planet’s surface. The presence of methane can’t be easily rationalised by geological matter or organic material deposited by asteroids or comets which has led scientists to toy with the possibility that life could exist on Mars.

John Grotzinger, an expert scientist on NASA’s Curiosity team explains, “That we detect methane in the atmosphere on Mars is not an argument that we have found evidence of life on Mars, but it’s one of the few hypotheses that we can propose that we must consider. Large organic molecules present in ancient rocks on Mars is also not an argument that there was once life on ancient Mars, but it is the kind of material you’d look for if life had ever originated on Mars.”

During its mission Curiosity recorded a tenfold increase in the amount of methane present in the atmosphere. The rover’s drill also harvested organic molecules which were found in samples of powdered rock. While it is possible that the organic matter could have been deposited from meteorites scientists claim that it could have formed on Mars as a result of living organisms.  

 “This temporary increase in methane, sharply up and then back down, tells us there must be some relatively localised source,” explains Sushil Atreya, a member of the Curiosity science team. “There are many possible sources, biological or non-biological, such as interaction of water and rock.”

Adding to the likelihood of planetary life is the fact that the methane was detected in close proximity to the Gale Crater, a landmark which displays evidence of fresh water billions of years ago.

Curiosity has been exploring the 96-mile-wide crater since August 2012. During that time, the rover discovered the remnants of a freshwater lake that could well have supported life.

The studies were published in the widely read journal Science and shed light on gas samples collected by the rover’s Curiosity’s tunable laser spectrometer (TAS). Using intense light, the instrument carried out chemical analysis to detect a low background level of methane in the atmosphere. Over 60 days the traces spiked from 0.69 parts per billion by volume (ppbv) to 7.2 ppbv.

Chris Webster and his research team at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory wrote, “The persistence of the high methane values over 60 sols (Martian days) and their sudden drop 47 sols later is not consistent with a well-mixed event, but rather with a local production or venting that, once terminated, disperses quickly.

While speculation still runs wild the mystery could be solved when the European Space Agency launches its ExoMars mission in 2019. The agency will launch a 300kg rover equipped with a powerful two-metre drill and the technology to identify biomarkers of life.

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