Thursday, January 15, 2009

Mars and Methane






NASA had a big discussion today in front of the whole world. And you will definitely find much hoopla surrounding it in the near future. It seems that they have found methane on the planet. And this is a big deal because it means Mars is active, probably either geologically or biologically.


And this brings us to a few possibilities as far as what is causing it. It may be volcanic activity where water and rock chemical reactions cause methane to seep out. It may be biological. There is also the possibility that it has been generated externally. By this I mean the methane could have been locked up in water and is now creeping out into the atmosphere. This seems to be the least likely of the three, but still it is a possibility.
Further testing needs to be done to verify what the source is. And while the scientists refrained somewhat from giddiness, there were hints that they were quite excited. They should be. Whether life exists or not on the red planet, they have done some solid research and concluded that Mars holds some surprises. Maybe some big ones.

As I've been saying, the evidence buildup on Mars is continuing. I won't go so far to say that there undoubtedly IS life there, but we are seeing more and more clues to this possibility. I'll try to restrain my enthusiasm, but it is difficult because I live in a time where the potential to find life outside of our planet is quite possible.

The question remains, is it there?? But we'll find out relatively soon. Most likely within the next 10-15 years I am guessing.


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