A new test that produced methane under conditions mimicking the deep interiors of Earth and Mars lends support to an idea that the gas could theoretically support unseen colonies of microbes on both worlds. And the study hints at the possibility of a potential vast supply of petroleum products. While the lab work doesn’t reveal what’s really down there, it has nudged a controversial theory about what’s under our feet one step closer to the mainstream. The research was led by Henry Scott of Indiana University at South Bend and was published online last week by the National Academy of Sciences.
September 22nd, 2004
Mars, Once Warm and Wet, Left Some Clues
A new theory about ancient Mars puts some fizz back in the idea that the red planet was once warm, wet and potentially habitable.
Many studies have suggested that early Mars was covered by large oceans and blanketed by a thick atmosphere rich in carbon dioxide — the stuff that puts the bubbly zing in soda. But if that’s all true, then when the oceans evaporated a lot of the carbon dioxide should have turned into what scientists call carbonates, which should be strewn all over the place.
Problem is, the carbonates aren’t there. One recent study found trace amounts in Martian dust, just enough to conclude that Mars probably didn’t have vast oceans.
The new model provides a way around this problem. It suggests the chemistry of Martian seas was different than has been assumed, so the clues have been missed.
September 14th, 2004
Earth’s mantle can generate methane Nature
Methane could be forming in Earth’s mantle, US scientists have shown. The result suggests that untapped and unexpected reserves of natural gas and oil may exist deep beneath the planet’s surface. Fossil fuels such as oil and natural gas are organic materials made up of carbon and hydrogen. The consensus view is that all commercially viable petroleum and natural gas is made by biological processes – although methane can also be made in small amounts within volcanoes. In fact, the recent detection of methane in Mars’s atmosphere has been interpreted as evidence either of ongoing volcanic activity or of life.
September 14th, 2004
Mars Valleys Reflect Dry Climate Discovery News
Mars’ river valleys are anything but, say researchers who have made the first numerical study of some of the Red Planet’s allegedly water-formed landscapes. On Earth, “whenever there is a river, there is a valley,” said researcher Thomas Stepinski of the Lunar and Planetary Institute. “However, you don’t see that on Mars.”
August 5th, 2004
Digging for life in the deadest desert
Life is hard. For some, it’s almost impossible. Specialized microorganisms called extremophiles thrive in nuclear waste, volcanic vents, boiling geothermal geysers and even deep inside rocks. Their unique biology allows them to feast on chemicals and radiation that would kill most organisms. But there is a place on Earth so hostile to life that even extremophiles perish: Chile’s Atacama Desert.
August 5th, 2004
Red Planet had ‘recent’ volcanism
Mars appears to have been volcanically active more recently than previously supposed, according to growing evidence from Europe’s Mars Express orbiter.
New estimates suggest volcanoes could have been active between one million years ago and 20 million years ago, but more work is needed to refine the dates. Previous spacecraft data suggested that volcanism on Mars ceased some time around 600-500 million years ago. Some researchers even speculate Mars could be volcanically active today.
July 20th, 2004
Mars Had Surface Water for Eons Slashdot
Far from being a one-time event, it now appears that surface water flowed on Mars for eons. Nasa has announced that, after descending down further into the Endurance crater, the Opportunity rover has found a ‘razorback’. It is believed that this was formed by ‘fracture fill’ from the minerals in percolating water. Since this feature extends through several geologic layers, it argues for a long period of wetness near the surface. This would seem to substantially increase the chance that life once existed on the red planet.
July 16th, 2004
Greetings from Martian America
The forested mountains of northeastern Utah can be as green and inviting as any in the world, but just over the ridge, you can find an alien landscape as well: rolling hills of red dirt and rock, much like the vistas visible from the Spirit rover on Mars. The similarity isn’t just coincidental. Like at least part of the Red Planet, Utah’s red hills were once covered with water. In fact, as you drive through Logan Canyon, the fossilized traces of marine worms from 400 million years ago are visible literally on the side of the road. Today, that bounty of water is gone, leaving Martian-style dirt and stone that is reddened by iron oxide.
July 1st, 2004
It rained on Mars – 3bn years ago Agence France-Presse
Mars was not only awash with water, it also once had rainfall, according to a new French study. The evidence comes from infra-red imaging, which probed under dust deposited over the millions of years and found dense networks of dry valleys, whose branching bear the hallmarks of having been carved out by rain. The research, published in the US journal Science on Friday, could prompt a rewrite of the Martian history books, for it suggests the planet had a longer “summer” than anyone thought.
June 16th, 2004
Mars On Earth KOMO TV
Geologist Steve Ridell took us where few have gone before… Mars on Earth. We’re on the Hanford Reach National Monument in Eastern Washington – making our way up Rattlesnake Mountain. “This is essentially an earth analog for a lot of what planetary scientists have been looking at on Mars, in particular.”