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.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
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.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
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.