Hum, i may as well start a new thread...
This statment will be released soon...
DETECTION OF METHANE IN THE MARTIAN ATMOSPHERE: EVIDENCE FOR LIFE
"we observed a spectrum of Mars at the P-branch of the strongest CH4 band at 3.3 µm with resolving power of 220,000. Summing up the spectral intervals at the expected
positions of 18 strongest Doppler-shifted martian lines, we detected the absorption by martian methane at a 3.9 sigma level. The observed CH4 mixing ratio is 11 ± 4 ppb.
Total photochemical loss of CH4 in the martian atmosphere is equal to 1.8×105 cm−2 s−1, and the CH4 lifetime is 440 years. Heterogeneous loss of atmospheric methane is probably negligible, while the sink of CH4 during its diffusion through the regolith may be significant. There are no processes of CH4 formation in the atmosphere, so the
photochemical loss must therefore be balanced by abiogenic and biogenic sources.
The mantle outgassing of CH4 is 4000 cm−2 s−1 on the Earth and smaller by an order of magnitude on Mars. The calculated production of CH4 by cometary impacts is 2.3
per cent of the methane loss. Methane cannot originate from an extinct biosphere, as in the case of “natural gas” on Earth, given the exceedingly low limits on organic
matter set by the Viking landers and the dry recent history which has been extremely hostile to the macroscopic life needed to generate the gas. Therefore, methanogenesis
by living subterranean organisms is the most likely explanation for this discovery. Our estimates of the biomass and its production using the measured CH4 abundance show that the martian biota may be extremely scarce and Mars may be generally sterile except for some oases."
[V. A. Krasnopolsky (1), J. P. Maillard (2), T. C. Owen (3)
(1) Catholic University of America, Department of Physics, Washington, DC USA
(2) Institute d’Astrophysique de Paris, CNRS, 75014 Paris, France
(3) Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii
Using the Fourier Transform Spectrometer at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope,]
Wow...
