ScienceCuriosity RoverNASAlife on mars

Methane Spike On Mars Provides New Clue In Search For Alien Life

New Clue Found In Search For Life On Mars
By 

Associate Science Editor, The Huffington Post

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NASA's Curiosity rover has detected a strange burst of methane gas in the atmosphere on Mars, along with other organic chemicals in rocks on the planet's surface. The findings are raising new questions about the planet's habitability--today as well as in the past.

"That we detect methane in the atmosphere on Mars is not an argument that we have found evidence of life on Mars, but it is one of the few hypotheses that we can propose that we must consider as we go forward in the future," Dr. John Grotzinger, Curiosity project scientist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, said on Dec. 16 in a news briefing at the American Geophysical Union's convention in San Francisco.

Using its onboard Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) laboratory, the rover "sniffed" more than a dozen samples of the Martian atmosphere over a 20-month period. Grotzinger and his team found that methane levels shot up tenfold to an average of seven parts per billion over two months in late 2013 and early 2014, according to NASA.

The researchers aren't sure what caused the burst, but they've offered two potential explanations: an interaction between water and rocks called serpentization, or methane-belching microbes. Anaerobic bacteria produce around 95 percent of the methane on Earth.

(Story continues below image.)

This image illustrates possible ways methane might be added to Mars' atmosphere (sources) and removed from the atmosphere (sinks). NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has detected fluctuations in methane concentration in the atmosphere, implying both types of activity occur on modern Mars.

Curiosity found other organic (carbon-containing) molecules in powder collected from drilling into an ancient rock called Cumberland.

The researchers say this is the first definitive evidence of organics found on the surface of Mars. While the presence of organics doesn't prove that life existed on ancient Mars, it suggests the planet may have had the ingredients required for life, the New York Times reported.

"Organics, large organic molecules, present in ancient rocks on Mars is also not an argument that there was once life on ancient Mars, Grotzinger added during the briefing, "but it is the kind of material that you would look for if life ever originated on Mars."

A paper describing the detection of methane was published online on Dec. 16 in the journal Science.

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Before You Go

Curiosity: Mars Science Laboratory's Rover
Curiosity at Work on Mars (01 of17)
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This artist's concept depicts the rover Curiosity, of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission, as it uses its Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument to investigate the composition of a rock surface. ChemCam fires laser pulses at a target and views the resulting spark with a telescope and spectrometers to identify chemical elements. The laser is actually in an invisible infrared wavelength, but is shown here as visible red light for purposes of illustration. (credit:NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Daybreak At Gale Crater(02 of17)
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This computer-generated view depicts part of Mars at the boundary between darkness and daylight, with an area including Gale Crater beginning to catch morning light. (credit:NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Curiosity Launch Vehicle(03 of17)
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The Atlas V 541 vehicle was selected for the Mars Science Laboratory mission because it has the right liftoff capability for the heavy weight requirements of the rover and its spacecraft. (credit:NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Mars Science Laboratory Spacecraft During Cruise(04 of17)
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This is an artist's concept of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft during its cruise phase between launch and final approach to Mars. The spacecraft includes a disc-shaped cruise stage (on the left) attached to the aeroshell. The spacecraft's rover (Curiosity) and descent stage are tucked inside the aeroshell. (credit:NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Curiosity Approaching Mars(05 of17)
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The Curiosity rover is safely tucked inside the spacecraft's aeroshell. The mission's approach phase begins 45 minutes before the spacecraft enters the Martian atmosphere. It lasts until the spacecraft enters the atmosphere. (credit:NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Curiosity Inside Aeroshell(06 of17)
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The Curiosity rover and the spacecraft's descent stage are safely tucked inside the aeroshell at this point. The aeroshell includes a heat shield (on the right, facing in the direction of travel through the atmosphere) and backshell. The diameter of the aeroshell is 14.8 feet (4.5 meters), the largest ever used for a mission to Mars. (credit:NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Mars Science Laboratory Guided Entry At Mars(07 of17)
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The mission's entry, descent, and landing (EDL) phase begins when the spacecraft reaches the top of Martian atmosphere, about 81 miles (131 kilometers) above the surface of the Gale crater landing area, and ends with the rover safe and sound on the surface of Mars. During the approximately seven minutes of EDL, the spacecraft decelerates from a velocity of about 13,200 miles per hour (5,900 meters per second) at the top of the atmosphere, to stationary on the surface. (credit:NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Deceleration of Mars Science Laboratory in Martian Atmosphere(08 of17)
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This artist's concept depicts the interaction of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft with the upper atmosphere of Mars during the entry, descent and landing of the Curiosity rover onto the Martian surface. (credit:NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Mars Science Laboratory Parachute(09 of17)
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This is an artist's concept of the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover parachute system. (credit:NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Curiosity While On Parachute(10 of17)
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This is an artist's concept of NASA's Curiosity rover tucked inside the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft's backshell while the spacecraft is descending on a parachute toward Mars. The parachute is attached to the top of the backshell. In the scene depicted here, the spacecraft's heat shield has already been jettisoned. (credit:NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Curiosity And Descent Stage (11 of17)
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This is an artist's concept of the rover and descent stage for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft during the final minute before the rover, Curiosity, touches down on the surface of Mars. (credit:NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Curiosity's Sky Crane Maneuver(12 of17)
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The entry, descent, and landing (EDL) phase of the Mars Science Laboratory mission begins when the spacecraft reaches the Martian atmosphere, about 81 miles (131 kilometers) above the surface of the Gale crater landing area, and ends with the rover Curiosity safe and sound on the surface of Mars. (credit:NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Curiosity Touching Down(13 of17)
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This artist's concept depicts the moment that NASA's Curiosity rover touches down onto the Martian surface. (credit:NASA/JPL-Caltech)
A Moment After Curiosity's Touchdown(14 of17)
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This artist's concept depicts the moment immediately after NASA's Curiosity rover touches down onto the Martian surface. (credit:NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Curiosity Mars Rover(15 of17)
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This artist concept features NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover, a mobile robot for investigating Mars' past or present ability to sustain microbial life. (credit:NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Curiosity's Close-Up(16 of17)
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In this picture, the mast, or rover's "head," rises to about 2.1 meters (6.9 feet) above ground level, about as tall as a basketball player. This mast supports two remote-sensing instruments: the Mast Camera, or "eyes," for stereo color viewing of surrounding terrain and material collected by the arm; and, the ChemCam instrument, which is a laser that vaporizes material from rocks up to about 9 meters (30 feet) away and determines what elements the rocks are made of. (credit:NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Mars Rover Curiosity(17 of17)
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This artist concept features NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover, a mobile robot for investigating Mars' past or present ability to sustain microbial life. (credit:NASA/JPL-Caltech)
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