Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck
Traces of methane have been discovered in meteors of Martian origin, and the discovery could be good news in the hunt for microbial life on the Red Planet, an international team of scientists reported in a recent edition of the journal Nature Communication.
University of Aberdeen professor John Parnell and his colleagues examined samples from six different meteorites made of volcanic rock that had originated on Mars, all of which contained the same gases with the same proportions and isotopic compositions as the planet’s atmosphere, they explained in a statement Tuesday.
All six of the samples also contained methane, which was measured by crushing the rocks and running the emerging gas through a mass spectrometer. Since microbes found here on Earth use methane as a rudimentary food source, the discovery suggests that similar forms of life may exist beneath the surface of Mars.
Environment suitable for microbial life
The discovery “lends weight to the controversial claimed detections of methane in the Martian atmosphere, most recently by Curiosity,” co-author Sean McMahon, a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Geology and Geophysics at Yale University told redOrbit via email.
“This methane seems to be venting at the present day,” he added. Furthermore, the study “shows that methane has at some point been generated in the Martian crust, which may have required warm, wet subsurface conditions. Even if the methane did not issue from microbes or serve as a fuel for them, it therefore indicates an environment where they could have lived.”
McMahon noted that other experts will most likely be eager to replicate their findings using other measurement tools and techniques, and that the results could benefit astrobiologists who make models and experiments designed to understand whether life could survive beneath the surface of the Red Planet today.
In addition, McMahon told redOrbit that the team also found hydrogen gas (H2) in the meteorites. H2, he said, “is a major energy source for microbes in the earth’s subsurface” and is combined with CO2 by some organisms to produce methane, which “could likewise support life on Mars.”
The similarity of the gas content of the Martian rocks to those found on Earth ups the confidence in the findings, and the researchers plan to continue developing their technique for future Mars rover instruments.
While they have plans for future research on the Martian meteorites, the Yale researcher told redOrbit that he was unable to elaborate at this time. Co-author Nigel Blamey of Brock University in Ontario added that the team intends to expand their research efforts through analysis of additional meteorites in the near future.
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