Methane does exist in the Martian atmosphere
The uncertainty of science: Curiosity has confirmed the presence, and fluctuation, of methane in the local Martian atmosphere.
SAM [Sample Analysis at Mars, one of Curiosity’s instruments] has been detecting basal levels of methane concentration of around 0,7 ppbv, and has confirmed an event of episodic increase of up to ten times this value during a period of sixty soles (Martian days), i.e., of about 7 ppvb. The new data are based on observations during almost one Martian year (almost two Earth years), included in the initial prediction for the duration of the mission (nominal mission), during which Curiosity has surveyed about 8 kms in the basin of the Gale crater.
Since methane has a short life expectancy, something must be doing something to generate it.
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The uncertainty of science: Curiosity has confirmed the presence, and fluctuation, of methane in the local Martian atmosphere.
SAM [Sample Analysis at Mars, one of Curiosity’s instruments] has been detecting basal levels of methane concentration of around 0,7 ppbv, and has confirmed an event of episodic increase of up to ten times this value during a period of sixty soles (Martian days), i.e., of about 7 ppvb. The new data are based on observations during almost one Martian year (almost two Earth years), included in the initial prediction for the duration of the mission (nominal mission), during which Curiosity has surveyed about 8 kms in the basin of the Gale crater.
Since methane has a short life expectancy, something must be doing something to generate it.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
What is the freezing point of methane? Could temperature flux be causing this?
Something must be making methane? If there was plant life, there would be oxygen, and the oxygen would react with methane to form carbon dioxide and water.
Other than the oxidized red soil, I see no free oxygen on Mars to break down the methane so it should stick around forever. As for what made it? The sun makes plenty of methane and blast it out to space with every flare pushed along by the solar wind. (methane is the blue spectra in the Aurora Borealis and is the major cause for the ozone hole every September when the spring sun returns to Antarctica)
The Martian atmosphere is only 7 Millibars of pressure. (The equivalent of 100,000 feet up in Earth’s atmosphere) and is mostly made of carbon dioxide.
What little methane makes it to the surface most likely freezes in places where the sun doesn’t touch.
To give you an idea how little 7 ppb is, imagine finding 100 stacks of large suitcases, each stack having 10 suitcases reaching over your head. You pull one suitcase down and open it, and inside there is 100 stacks of 100 Dollar bills 100 bills high! (1 million) You take only one $100 Dollar bill, and you make change and put back $93 dollars… What you have in your hand now is seven dollars out of 1 billion. 7 parts Per billion. It is simply amazing that anything could measure something so small.
No cows passing gas and stinking up the place.