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Scientists find proof of methane on Mars

Posted on: Tuesday, 30 March 2004, 06:00 CST

METHANE has been discovered in the Martian atmosphere, raising the possibility of past or present life on the Red Planet, scientists said yesterday.

It was detected by telescopes on Earth and was confirmed by the Planetary Fourier Spectrometer (PFS) onboard the Mars Express, the European Space Agency orbiter.

Dr Vittorio Formisano, principal investigator of PFS, said the finding could either be evidence of life on Mars, or of volcanic activity.

However, the scientist cautioned that many more observations and studies were required to identify the source of the methane.

Evidence of the gas in the atmosphere was seen by the Infrared Telescope on Hawaii and the Gemini South Observatory in Chile.

Further proof of methane on Mars will be presented next month, by a consortium of astronomers, using the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope.

Dr Formisano said: "Eventually we shall perhaps be able to identify the source of methane.

"The source is going to be a rather big issue. The source could be either simply volcanic activity, or life of biological origin I am not stating that there is life now. There is no conclusion yet."

The scientist said methane in the Martian atmosphere is not a stable molecule and could only exist there for a few hundred years. This meant that there could currently be life or volcanic activity on the Red Planet.

Dr Formisano added: "In my opinion, it is most likely of volcanic origin, but I need many more observations.

"For the moment, we can only say there is evidence of methane, and we have the possibility of accumulating more data and eventually finding the source."

Scientists have previously detected frozen water on the Martian south pole.

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