Methane out gassing on the Red Planet has been puzzling planetary scientists for some time. Today we find that there is more of it that was expected, and that the abundances change with the seasons. Read more about this story from, some of my favorite bloggers: AstroEngine, SpaceWriter, SarahAskew, and Universe Today. Don't forget, of course, the official NASA press release!
Let's not get ahead of ourselves, now. Remember, in 1996, images of possible microbes in a sample of Martian rock (ALH84001) captured the public imagination. Today, after extensive testing of the samples, most scientists are convinced that the structures are non-biological in nature. So although the possibilities are tantalizing, we must remember to ground ourselves in science and be very thorough before making sweeping conclusions.
There is still a lot of science to be done and great results to discover, even if they aren't paradigm shattering. Hopefully, these areas of methane enhancement will be targets for future rovers and landers.
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Hi Nicole! Thanks for the link, glad you liked the article :-)
ReplyDeleteI must admit, after I wrote the post, I realised that the conference didn't actually bring very much "new stuff" to the table - results have been refined and more work has been done, but for me the big news was back in October when NASA first started talking about tracking down these methane vents.
Perhaps this conference will serve more than just the press... I hear the Mars Science Laboratory has been losing quite a bit of cash of late... ;-)
Still, all very cool! Despite my skepticism about the whole "must find life on Mars!" thing, it would still be pretty awesome if we find that we have some exobacteria partying on the Red Planet :-D
Cheers! Ian