Life May be Source of Methane on Mars |
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Written by spacetravel.org
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Monday, 18 July 2005 08:54 |
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The European Space Agencys Mars Express spacecraft has found that the methane on Mars seems to be most abundant in regions where there is also a concentration of water. The methane in Mars atmosphere is destroyed in a few centuries, so it must be continually produced. Vittorio Formisano of the Institute of Physics and Interplanetary Science in Rome thinks that this methane might be produced by methanogens, microbes that produce methane as a waste product. However, he concedes that the gas could also be produced by non-biological reactions or volcanic emissions.
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