NASA Rover on Mars Detects Puff of Gas That Hints at Possibility of Life

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/22/science/nasa-mars-rover-life.html

Source:  By Kenneth Chang, The New York Times.

Excerpt: Mars, it appears, is belching a large amount of a gas that could be a sign of microbes living on the planet today. In a measurement taken on Wednesday, NASA’s Curiosity rover discovered startlingly high amounts of methane in the Martian air, a gas that on Earth is usually produced by living things. The data arrived back on Earth on Thursday, and by Friday, scientists working on the mission were excitedly discussing the news, which has not yet been announced by NASA. ...Methane, if it is there in the thin Martian air, is significant, because sunlight and chemical reactions would break up the molecules within a few centuries. Thus any methane detected now must have been released recently. On Earth, microbes known as methanogens thrive in places lacking oxygen, such as rocks deep underground and the digestive tracts of animals, and they release methane as a waste product. However, geothermal reactions devoid of biology can also generate methane. It is also possible that the methane is ancient, trapped inside Mars for millions of years but escaping intermittently through cracks. ...The agency’s spokesperson added, “To maintain scientific integrity, the project science team will continue to analyze the data before confirming results.”....  See also https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/06/nasa-rover-catches-big-whiff-methane-mars-where-did-it-come

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