Mars methane discovery hints at presence of life:
Large quantities of the gas — which on Earth is mostly produced by living things — were recorded by three huge telescopes during a seven year study.The level of activity was so great that at times it equalled the amount of the gas released at some of the most methane-rich locations on Earth.
Scientists say that further investigation is necessary to determine whether the gas — spotted in 2003 — was created by the biological processes of creatures such as microbes, or from volcanic activity.
“Living systems produce more than 90 per cent of Earth’s atmospheric methane; the balance is of geochemical origin. On Mars, methane could be a signature of either,” Nasa said in a statement.
Europe’s Mars Express probe picked up possible evidence of methane on Mars in 2004, but Nasa’s latest discovery has been heralded as the strongest indicator yet that the planet is able to support simple organisms.
The methane, which was detected alongside water vapour, could have been a waste product from organisms called methanogens living in water beneath underground ice, experts believe.