Curiosity rover's proof of methane on Mars fuels speculation of life on planet

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NASA's curiosity rover has confirmed the existence of methane on the Mars' atmosphere which may hint that life existed on the Red planet.

The tunable laser spectrometer in the SAM (Sample Analysis at Mars) instrument of the Curiosity robot has unequivocally detected an episodic increase in the concentration of methane in Mars' atmosphere after an exhaustive analysis of data obtained during 605 soles or Martian days.

This puts an end to the long controversy on the presence of methane in Mars, which started over a decade ago when this gas was first detected with telescopes from Earth.

According to these models, if methane really existed on Mars, it would remain there for an average 300 years, and during this period it would be homogeneously distributed across the atmosphere.

Since there's lack in the model that can account for its generation, localization and swift disappearance, detections were all called in doubt, and the results were attributed to the instruments employed in their detection, which were working on the very limit of their capacity, and also to the fact that the concentration values of the gas that they yielded were of the ppbv order (parts per billion by volume).

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.

The study is published in Science.