Are Aliens Passing Gas on Mars?


	Are Aliens Passing Gas on Mars?

janekl

3-5-2009 6:37 PM

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tags:

news, mars, methane, microbes, nasa, science

janekl says:

NASA seems to be keen to find out wether there are alien lifeforms on Mars such as microbes that are responsible for the methan gas in the atmosphere, or is it of purely geological origin.

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/3a4a076f-e2be-4d0f-a434-0a7c7a8a08c7/AB0C3159-54F4-48C5-9706-3277A67CF344/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16710-nasa-orbiter-to-hunt-for-source-of-martian-methane.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news" href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16710-nasa-orbiter-to-hunt-for-source-of-martian-methane.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news" style="font-size: 11px;">www.newscientist.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16710-nasa-orbiter-to-hunt-for-source-of-martian-methane.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news"><H1>
NASA orbiter to hunt for source of Martian methane
</H1></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16710-nasa-orbiter-to-hunt-for-source-of-martian-methane.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news"><P>NASA is setting its sights on launching an orbiter in 2016 that could map methane on Mars and help settle whether the gas has a biological or geological origin.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16710-nasa-orbiter-to-hunt-for-source-of-martian-methane.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news"><P>Ground-based observations of the Red Planet led by <A target="ns" href="http://ssed.gsfc.nasa.gov/vitae/mumma.html">Michael Mumma</A> of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center suggest methane on Mars actually <A href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16429-methane-pockets-may-narrow-search-for-mars-life.html">stems from a few hotspots</A> that could be linked to underground pockets of gas created by the interaction of water with volcanic rock, or perhaps, by methane-producing microbes.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16710-nasa-orbiter-to-hunt-for-source-of-martian-methane.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news">The 2016 orbiter could help determine whether there are indeed methane hotspots.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16710-nasa-orbiter-to-hunt-for-source-of-martian-methane.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news">The case for a biological origin for the gas would be strengthened if there is an overabundance of methane laden with the isotope carbon-12, which life prefers to process over heavier isotopes.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16710-nasa-orbiter-to-hunt-for-source-of-martian-methane.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news">If, however, the atmosphere also contains heavier hydrocarbons such as ethane, which life as we know it cannot produce, that would point to a geological source for the methane.</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/AB0C3159-54F4-48C5-9706-3277A67CF344/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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