The Curiosity robot NASA, which landed on Mars in 2012, detected methane levels on the planet for the first time on Tuesday. Scientists of the scientific paper on the measurement of methane levels, published in Science, they admit that this may be a sign of the existence of life on Mars.
Although not yet know what led to their existence, scientists said it is possible that it is a very small bacterium and if the gas is actually from microbes it will be one of the greatest discoveries of history, because on Earth 95% methane is of biological origin.
The Curiosity measurements in Gale Crater suggest that there are billions of years ago, there was water there. NASA reported in 2013 that the crater contained remnants of an ancient freshwater lake, where there may have been a hospitable environment for life. This year, the Curiosity held four measurements in two months and found a sudden increase in methane levels, which then dissipated just as quickly.
At a press conference held this week at the American Geophysical Union convention in San Francisco, NASA scientists explained that in addition to microbes, there are other possible explanations for the methane, which can be generated when radiation sun’s ultraviolet reaches and degrades th e organic material left behind by meteorites or comets.
The lead author of the article, Chris Webster, explains that as most of the methane that exists on Earth is produced by biological sources, “hope has been that ‘methane on Mars’ could be transformed into’ life on Mars ”.
“But we still can not tell whether the high levels of methane that we see will be produced geochemically or biologically,” said Webster to Scientific American magazine, adding that the robot now have to test the possibility of life.
The mission of the European Space Agency, ExoMars, may also provide extra clues. In 2019 will land a robot on Mars, equipped with a drill two meters and extra equipment to investigate signs of life, although the European robot may be unable to get to the same place on the planet where Curiosity arrived.
Another finding of Curiosity was the existence of Martian water, ‘hidden’ within the rock and this has much more deuterium (an isotope of hydrogen) than hydrogen, the opposite of what happens on Earth. It was possible to realize that Mars lost all liquid water before graduating rock which is now the surface.
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