CONTRARY to last week, life has not been found on Mars. But the most sensitive measurements ever made of atmospheric methane 鈥� which on Earth is produced mostly by organisms 鈥� highlight a few places where life may exist unseen.
Methane was first discovered on Mars in 2003. Since then, some observations have suggested that it is not distributed evenly across the planet, instead hinting at wide areas where the gas is abundant.
Now, a team led by Michael Mumma of the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, has pinpointed methane plumes in three areas just north of the Martian equator. 鈥淭his is the very first evidence of local methane sources,鈥� says Mumma (Science, ).
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It is unclear what mechanism beneath the surface is producing the methane. Pockets of the gas may have been created through the interaction of water and volcanic rock, but the possibility remains that microbes produced the gas. 鈥淲hatever the source, it indicates the presence of liquid water underground and that there is some type of activity going on, biologic or geologic 鈥� and that is exciting,鈥� says Sushil Atreya at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.