Life on Mars

The first person to get a hold of a microbe from a planet besides Earth that produces alcohol (mmmmmmmm, space beer) as a waste product will become the new illuminati.

This is actually pretty cool and its just yet another step we all take together to learn more of what is to be our future endeavors, its nice to know.

Methanogen life is still an existence of cell(s) so its quite a discovery for NASA to be able to claim. Even if the name has its dirt, who cares for now.

Bring back the microbes and inject them immediately into a select spectrum of ATS members.

Could the methane come from the long dead rotting corpses of a once great martian species set? I mean if mars is warming up the permafrost my melt releasing the methane that's caught up.. as it does on earth.

Just a thought, although I would prefer a super intelligent ET living under the ground in radiation proof bunkers, looking up at earth greedily

Originally posted by spitefulgod
Could the methane come from the long dead rotting corpses of a once great martian species set? I mean if mars is warming up the permafrost my melt releasing the methane that's caught up.. as it does on earth.

Just a thought, although I would prefer a super intelligent ET living under the ground in radiation proof bunkers, looking up at earth greedily

Why do the microbes have to be dead? No one would be suggesting (yet) that there is intelligent life on Mars but that doesn't mean that any kind of biological life would be rotting corpses.

reply to post by dodgygeeza


merely a suggestion

Another UK Telegraph report with video.

www.telegraph.co.uk...

Don't cows produce methane?

Could these be the guys creating the methane??



From this thread here:

www.abovetopsecret.com...




[edit on 15-1-2009 by Chadwickus]

reply to post by Chadwickus


Nice one chadwickus!

Those are some of the weirdest 'formations' I've seen yet. Good thread too.

What did NASA dismiss them as being, do you know?

reply to post by Exuberant1


I don't know if NASA has mentioned them before
The consensus in that thread seems to be dunes of some sort.


[edit on 15-1-2009 by Chadwickus]

I can't be bothered to go through this whole thread quite frankly, but has NASA officially announced this yet or what?

Third line.

Maj

It's just been on ITV news under "NASA set to announce EARTH SHATTERING news that we are not alone"

What's the big deal? It's just NASA announcing a hypothesis. There is no confirmation of anything.

Sounds very interesting. I look forward to this announcement and hope it's something really breaking and not just a stupid suggested explanation.

[edit on 15-1-2009 by DwaynetheSpecious]

This is certainly an interesting news.
Hope we get more info from them very soon!

Hmm. The article says that NASA scientists "believe" that the methane they've detected comes from microbes just below the Martian surface. The article also states that the only other possible source of the methane would be volcanic activity, but that there are no known active volcanos on Mars.

But we know that methane exists in trace amounts on Jupiter and in greater amounts on Uranus and Neptune.

The third most abundant constituent of the Uranian atmosphere is methane (CH4). Methane possesses prominent absorption bands in the visible and near-infrared (IR) making Uranus aquamarine or cyan in color. Methane molecules account for 2.3% of the atmosphere by molar fraction below the methane cloud deck at the pressure level of 1.3 bar (130 kPa);.

en.wikipedia.org...

As with Uranus, this absorption of red light by the atmospheric methane is part of what gives Neptune its blue hue, although Neptune's vivid azure differs from Uranus's milder aquamarine. Since Neptune's atmospheric methane content is similar to that of Uranus, some unknown atmospheric constituent is thought to contribute to Neptune's colour.

en.wikipedia.org...

Methane, when in the presence of free oxygen AND ultraviolet radiation, breaks down into carbon monoxide, hydrogen and water.

CH4 + O2 = CO + H2 + H2O


There are trace amounts of oxygen on Mars which leads NASA scientists to believe that the detected methane must have been produced recently. However, this is interesting:

Several researchers claim to have detected methane in the Martian atmosphere with a concentration of about 10 ppb by volume. Since methane is an unstable gas that is broken down by ultraviolet radiation, typically lasting about 340 years in the Martian atmosphere, its presence would indicate a current or recent source of the gas on the planet. Volcanic activity, cometary impacts, and the presence of methanogenic microbial life forms are among possible sources. It was recently pointed out that methane could also be produced by a non-biological process called serpentinization involving water, carbon dioxide, and the mineral olivine, which is known to be common on Mars.

en.wikipedia.org...

In one of the four major serpentine reactions, olivine, water and carbon dioxide react to form serpentinite, magnetite and methane. This reaction occurs continuously on Earth, but mainly at the ocean floors.

Serpentinization is a geological low-temperature metamorphic process involving heat and water in which low-silica mafic and ultramafic rocks are oxidized and hydrolyzed with water into serpentinite.
....
In the process large amounts of water are absorbed into the rock increasing the volume and destroying the structure.
....
Rock temperatures can be raised by about 260 oC, providing an energy source for formation of non-volcanic hydrothermal vents. The magnetite-forming chemical reactions produce hydrogen gas. Sulfates and carbonates are reduced and form methane and hydrogen sulfide. The hydrogen, methane, and hydrogen sulfide provide energy sources for deep sea chemotroph microorganisms.

en.wikipedia.org...

Given all of this information, I'm a-gonna go out on a limb and handicap this thing.
Probable source of Martian methane: Life.





[edit on 15-1-2009 by Tuning Spork]

NASA.gov doesn't seem to say anything about an announcement being made.

I even checked out the moon and mars section on their site, nothing.

Star for you Tuning Spork * ; very informative post, you may have just rapped this up. I hope there is something to this story. There better be a confirmation of life or something. 'The Sun' doesn't strike me as a 'credible' source though.

[edit on 15/1/09 by Majorion]

January 15, Thursday
12:50 - 1:10 p.m. - ISS Expedition 18 Education Event with the Wendover High School in Wendover, Utah - JSC (Public and Media Channels)
2 p.m. - NASA Science Update -- "Something in the Mars Atmosphere" - HQ (Public and Media Channels)
6 p.m. - NASA Celebrates Mars Exploration Rovers 5th Anniversary - JPL (All Channels)

Source ..www.nasa.gov...

2 p.m there is something they want to tell the public but if it really life I suspect all the world press would be informet .. all though sometimes important stuff is being kept secret until last moment.. we will see.

oh secondly maybe NASA is going to announce it or something else verry important as an inaugaration gift to Obama.

[edit on 15-1-2009 by MarkLuitzen]

reply to post by MarkLuitzen


I don't know, you'd think an announcement this big, would be on the front page of their site. Thanks anyway for providing the source.

oh secondly maybe NASA is going to announce it or something else verry important as an inaugaration gift to Obama.

Yes, maybe Obama is the disclosure president

Looks like there is gonna be a mars science update at 2:00 pm est
www.nasa.gov...