Mars Methane Gas May Signal Biological Activity

[HURAKAN]

Mars Methane Gas May Signal Biological Activity, Study Says

By Ryan Flinn

Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Mars’s surface shows signs of the presence of methane gas, a marker of biological activity or even primitive life forms, said scientists studying the Red Planet with telescopes.

Methane can be produced by either living organisms or geological processes, scientists said. The gas may come from organisms like some on Earth that live more than a mile below the surface.

“Both geochemical and biological origins have been explored, but no consensus has emerged,” said the scientists led by Michael Mumma of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, in the study to be published in tomorrow’s edition of the journal Science.

More than 90 percent of Earth’s methane is produced by living systems, with the remainder generated by geochemical processes, the study said. Researchers observed the Mars gas using high-dispersion infrared spectrometers at three ground- based telescopes.

“There have been previous reports of methane on Mars, but they turned out to be incorrect,” Chris McKay, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, said in a telephone interview. “If there really is methane on Mars, it’s very exciting.”

One theory is that the methane was created by organisms similar to ones found buried deep on Earth. The microscopic creatures thrive at depths of 2 to 3 kilometers (1.2 to 1.9 miles) in places such as the Witwatersrand Basin of South Africa, according to the study.

Methane’s Age Unknown

Methane is also produced on Earth in magma and during chemical reactions between water and certain rocks, the report said.

“The methane we detected is of unknown age -- it could be ancient or perhaps recent,” the study said.

The study was conducted by scientists at Goddard, in Greenbelt, Maryland, and researchers at Catholic University of America in Washington; Iona College in New Rochelle, New York; and the University of Maryland in College Park.

The find, if true, is significant because it would upend current models about how the gas should act on the planet, said McKay, who wasn’t affiliated with the study. Methane should remain in Mars’s atmosphere for hundreds of years, he said, yet the observations show yearly changes in the amount of gas found.

“Our current model says methane would last 300 years in Mars,” McKay said. “The observations are not consistent with that. Something is destroying it much faster.”

Scientists don’t know what’s creating the methane or what’s destroying it, he said.

“Something is burping it out, or producing it, and something is eating it,” he said. “Those are all puzzles.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Ryan Flinn in San Francisco at rflinn@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: January 15, 2009 14:01 EST