The more we read about Mars , the more we learn it ’s a deceivingly active planet . Most latterly , the Curiosity roamer sniffed out a sharp spike in methane levels that drop back down just as quickly , suggesting some yet - to - be - regulate process is currently bump to set off the aberrance .
Top image : Hole exercise on sol 279 ( May 19 , 2013 ) to collect powder Cumberland rock ‘n’ roll for analysis . The hole is about 1.6 centimeters in diameter , and 6.6 centimeters bass . Credit : NASA / JPL - Caltech / MSSS
The Tunable Laser Spectrometer ( TLS ) aboard SAM standard light preoccupancy at specific wavelength to determine methane , atomic number 6 dioxide , and water vapour concentration . Image cite : NASA / JPL - Caltech
TheCuriosity rovermeasured a methane ear ten times the mediocre background level in late 2013 and early 2014 . The scouter sniffs the atmosphere using the Sample Analysis at Mars ( SAM ) testing ground , lead 12 distinct measurements over a 20 - month full point . Four of those measure within a two calendar month period average 7 methane molecules per billion Martian standard atmosphere mote . All the measurements before and after were under 1 part per billion , average only 0.7 parts per billion for normal Martian methane levels .
Methane measurements between August 2012 to September 2014 ( sols 1 - 750 ) . prototype credit : NASA / JPL - Caltech
We ’ve beenexcited about methane on Mars before , but this time it ’s a bit different . This fourth dimension , Curiosity quantify a spike that suggest current , combat-ready process on Mars alter things right now . Fluctuations in the methane level indicate both sources and cesspit on Mars . Methane has one atom of carbon and four atoms of H : it can be combined , stored , and pulled apart in dissimilar ways .
https://gizmodo.com/heres-why-everybody-is-freaking-out-about-methane-on-m-1355589246
This shrewd spike is unusual : Sushil Atreya , a member of the Curiosity rover science team , explains in a press vent :
“ This temporary step-up in methane — acutely up and then back down — assure us there must be some relatively localized source . There are many possible sources , biologic or non - biological , such as fundamental interaction of water and stone . ”
Sinks , sources , and transportation of methane around the Martian ambiance . Image credit entry : NASA / JPL - Caltech / SAM - GSFC / Univ . of Michigan
The atoms can be combined through microbic processes , but molecule formation may also be spark by geochemical reactions between water and olivine or pyroxene rock’n’roll . Ultraviolet Light Within can also trigger reactions generating methane from constitutional chemicals . The methane can be destroyed through photochemistry , when sun actuate reactions that pause it down . This can bring forth formaldehyde and methanol , which in turn disintegrates into carbon dioxide , which makes up most of the Martian aura .
In between creation and devastation , the methane can be salt away underground a long prison term and be released lento , or wind can redistribute methane to create local concentration .
Along with the atmospheric readings , Curiosity has been sniffing out organic chemical in the powdered sample drill out of the Cumberland rock . Cumberland is a mudstone located near an fret scarp , forget by overlaying dust protect it from vulnerability to cosmic ray for most of the preceding three billion years .
Between cosmic rays breaking down organic compound at the surface and ultraviolet light can actuate oxidation reaction , constituent sample are difficult to find on Mars in Image credit : NASA / JPL - Caltech
It took month to be absolutely certain the organics were directly from Cumberland , and not something that hitchhiked from Earth inside the rover . Now scientists are certain the sample is authentically Martian , they ’re featherbrained about the deduction of what they find .
The Cumberland sampling contains the first definitive organic molecules found on the planet — molecules that contain C and ordinarily H — that could potentially ( although not necessarily ! ) be building blocks for lifetime .
creative person ’s concept of Curiosity crunch on rocks . prototype credit : NASA / JPL - Caltech
Alone , these molecules are a lot of almost - perchance potentially cool things : they may have spring on Mars , or have been delivered to the surface by meteorite ; they could be formed by biologic activity , or by geological processes that have nothing to do with life . What these corpuscle do indicate is that modernistic Mars is chemically alive , and thatin the ancient past it had prosperous conditions for aliveness .
https://gizmodo.com/curiosity-confirms-that-mars-was-once-capable-of-harbor-453334313
Roger Summons , participating scientist for the Curiosity wanderer , glows about the potentiality wrap up in this find :
“ This first substantiation of organic carbon paper in a rock on Mars holds much promise . organic fertilizer are significant because they can tell us about the chemic pathways by which they were form and preserved . In turn , this is informative about Earth - Mars differences and whether or not particular environments represented by Gale Crater sedimentary rocks were more or less favorable for accumulation of organic materials . The challenge now is to find other rocks on Mount Sharp that might have different and more broad inventories of organic compounds . ”
Chlorobenzene ( an organic compound ) levels in the Cumberland rock ‘n’ roll sampling were far higher than in other sample or the background knowledge norm . range credit rating : NASA / JPL - Caltech
on the button which specific organics are present in the Martian rock and roll remains a number of a mystery : by heating the samples inside of SAM , perchlorates minerals vary the structure of the constitutional compounds just enough to elaborate identification .
The Cumberland careen sample distribution also gift Curiositya taste of Martian waterthat was locked into lakebed minerals three billion years ago . When SAM fire up up the sample , it release H isotope interlace in the sway for one million million of years . Because lighter regular hydrogen isotopesescape from the upper atmospheremore well than grave deuterium , look at the proportion of the hydrogen isotopes provides a signature of what water count like at dissimilar times in Martian history . The Cumberland sample has a ratio about one-half of modern water vapour on the planet , suggesting Mars lose a lot of water in the time since Cumberland work . But if Earth ’s oceans are any usher , the proportion is about three times higher than Mars ’ original weewee supplying , indicating that Mars had already lost a whole fortune of water before the rock was formed .
https://gizmodo.com/nasa-has-just-made-an-incredible-discovery-about-water-1403815899
So , what now ? Curiosity ’s project scientist John Grotzinger offers upyet ever - more questions :
“ We will keep working on the mystifier these finding face . Can we learn more about the active chemical science make such variation in the amount of methane in the atmosphere ? Can we pick out stone targets where identifiable organics have been preserved ? ”
One last sample of the Cumberland rock ‘n’ roll remain . What precisely the undertaking team will do with it is yet to be determined , but with a bit of luck , soon they ’ll be bump more strange rocks around Mount Sharp to test . When they do , they ’ll hopefully corroborate their discovery , and maybe even poke out the number of invitingly secret organic compounds expanding our discernment of Mars and its history .
scan more in thisNASA / JPL press releaseon the findings hash out at the American Geophysical Union surrender meeting this calendar week , orthis Science paper on the methane result . Keep up onthe latest Curiosity enquiry newspaper publisher here .
GeochemistryMars
Daily Newsletter
Get the good tech , science , and acculturation news in your inbox day by day .
News from the time to come , delivered to your present .
You May Also Like
