NEW YORK: Scientists have conducted research for one and half year and Curiosity Rover of NASA has ultimately confirmed the existence of methane on Mars. This indicates that life once existed on the plannet.
The scientists did not get anything from the research conducted few years ago but now finally found methane – something which took NASA by surprise. The existence of methane would be a good indication of life on Mars, though it can be produced without life, and life can also exist without producing it. Not finding any of it was a big blow which left scientists scratching their heads. Now, astrobiologists can rest at peace – methane does exist on the Red Planet.
“It is a finding that puts paid to the question of the presence of methane in the Martian atmosphere but it does pose some other more complex and far-reaching questions, such as the nature of its sources,” said study co-author Francisco Javier Martin-Torres from the Andalusian Institute of Earth Sciences (CSIC-UGR) at the University of Granada, Spain.
Methane is an organic chemical compound made of one atom of carbon and four atoms of hydrogen. In its natural state on Earth, methane is found both below ground, and under the sea floor, where it often finds its way to the surface and in the atmosphere. However, on Mars, it’s not clear how the methane might form.
Astronomers discover distant dwarf planet beyond Neptune
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