Life on Mars possibility increased due to new methane study

Researchers at the Imperial College London have conducted a new study that raises the possibility of Mars' methane being generated by life on the planet. The study shows that methane levels that could be released by meteorites entering the Martian atmosphere would not maintain the atmospheric levels of methane currently on the planet because they would be too low.

These findings, published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters, will be helping to solve the methane mystery on Mars, says co-author of the study, Dr Richard Court from the Department of Earth Science and Engineering at Imperial College, London. He adds that when they recreated the meteorite's entry into the atmosphere of Mars in the lab, the researchers only got small amounts of methane.

A chemical reaction in the atmosphere of Mars caused by sunlight constantly depletes the planet's methane supply. Consequently, this causes the gas to have a very short lifetime on Mars. However, when scientists analyzed data from unmanned missions and telescopic observations of Mars, they discovered that Martian methane is being regularly replenished by an unknown source.

By ruling out the methane being delivered by meteorites theory, there are only two possible explanations for the presence of the gas. One is that the methane is being produced as a by-product from volcanic rock and water reactions. The second is that there are microorganisms living in the soil on Mars and they produce methane from their metabolic processes.

Left with only these two possibilities, scientists can now focus solely on them as they continue their research. NASA and ESA are planning a joint mission to Mars on 2018 in search of the methane's and they will be able to concentrate on the possibility that living organisms are producing the gas.