From NASA JPL, no evidence of Methane found in first tests.
Learning what happened to the Martian atmosphere will help scientists assess whether the planet ever was habitable. The present atmosphere of Mars is 100 times thinner than Earth’s.
A set of instruments aboard the rover has ingested and analyzed samples of the atmosphere collected near the “Rocknest” site in Gale Crater where the rover is stopped for research. Findings from the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instruments suggest that loss of a fraction of the atmosphere, resulting from a physical process favoring retention of heavier isotopes of certain elements, has been a significant factor in the evolution of the planet. Isotopes are variants of the same element with different atomic weights.
Initial SAM results show an increase of five percent in heavier isotopes of carbon in the atmospheric carbon dioxide compared to estimates of the isotopic ratios present when Mars formed. These enriched ratios of heavier isotopes to lighter ones suggest the top of the atmosphere may have been lost to interplanetary space. Losses at the top of the atmosphere would deplete lighter isotopes. Isotopes of argon also show enrichment of the heavy isotope, matching previous estimates of atmosphere composition derived from studies of Martian meteorites on Earth.
Scientists theorize that in Mars’ distant past its environment may have been quite different, with persistent water and a thicker atmosphere. NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, or MAVEN, mission will investigate possible losses from the upper atmosphere when it arrives at Mars in 2014.
With these initial sniffs of Martian atmosphere, SAM also made the most sensitive measurements ever to search for methane gas on Mars. Preliminary results reveal little to no methane. Methane is of interest as a simple precursor chemical for life. On Earth, it can be produced by either biological or non-biological processes.
Methane has been difficult to detect from Earth or the current generation of Mars orbiters because the gas exists on Mars only in traces, if at all. The Tunable Laser Spectrometer (TLS) in SAM provides the first search conducted within the Martian atmosphere for this molecule. The initial SAM measurements place an upper limit of just a few parts methane per billion parts of Martian atmosphere, by volume, with enough uncertainty that the amount could be zero.
“Methane is clearly not an abundant gas at the Gale Crater site, if it is there at all. At this point in the mission we’re just excited to be searching for it,” said SAM TLS lead Chris Webster of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. “While we determine upper limits on low values, atmospheric variability in the Martian atmosphere could yet hold surprises for us.”
In Curiosity’s first three months on Mars, SAM has analyzed atmosphere samples with two laboratory methods. One is a mass spectrometer investigating the full range of atmospheric gases. The other, TLS, has focused on carbon dioxide and methane. During its two-year prime mission, the rover also will use an instrument called a gas chromatograph that separates and identifies gases. The instrument also will analyze samples of soil and rock, as well as more atmosphere samples.
SAM is set to analyze its first solid sample in the coming weeks, beginning the search for organic compounds in the rocks and soils of Gale Crater. Analyzing water-bearing minerals and searching for and analyzing carbonates are high priorities for upcoming SAM solid sample analyses.
Researchers are using Curiosity’s 10 instruments to investigate whether areas in Gale Crater ever offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the project for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington, and built Curiosity. The SAM instrument was developed at Goddard with instrument contributions from Goddard, JPL and the University of Paris in France.
For more information about Curiosity and its mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl .
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Wow! 95% CO2? They must be “burning up”…with Martian Warming (MW). Must be all those old SUV’s we’ve disposed of on MARS. Bummer…
Heh, the AGWs will have a field day with that graph! “See! The Martians drove lots of cars and stuff and filled up their whole atmosphere with CO2 ‘n now they’re all dead ‘n gone jes’ like we’s gonna be if’n we don’ ‘lect Al Gore in 2016!
:>
MJM
What!! 96% CO2! The temperatures must be upwards of a million degrees on the surface of Mars!
Surprised to see Oxygen (0.14%) in the atmosphere. Any theories? Is it long term implying a fully oxidised soil or is it short term from the dissassociation of water implying Mars is still losing hydrogen?
CH4 + 2 O2 gives CO2 + 2 H2O. So, it may have been there at one time since both CO2 and H2O are known to be there now.
We will hear many theories , some wild and some not , but I for one will not accept any of them as these same people can’t seem to understand what is happening here on earth . So are you really going to believe what they tell you about a place they can never visit ? They should all be working on developing better pesticides to counter the huge influx of new pests being imported into the US and then concentrate on improving the ability of farmers to produce more and better crops . But they probably wouldn’t do any good in that field either .
I wonder if the Martian government could borrow some atmosphere from Venus.
A frozen rock with solid CO2 deposits and no free water. It’s the last place in the solar system that I’d go looking for life, unless I had an unemployed rent-seeking space agency kicking cans up the street.
Looks like a hydrogen deficiency. No methane and very little water. Hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen needed. Only possible explanation: After the Martian SUVs converted every last ounce of energy to CO2 and H2O, earth gravity stole all of the water. In space, no one can hear the giant sucking sound.
I think we need a few more tea leaves before we can start reading them. Data good, preliminary interpretation, not so much …
I thought the Mars atmosphere was blown off by the solar wind after the magnetosphere died. I understood Mars had a molten core like earth, but smaller, and it cooled and hardened. That ended the magnetosphere.
Miles Mathis just published a paper in which he explains why the Earth has the atmosphere it has and why Mars probably never had an atmosphere to speak of.
http://milesmathis.com/atmo2.pdf
Apparently Richard Branson posted a picture of a sun rise on mars, and someone made one of the most stupid comments I have ever read!
Quote “so pretty I never knew mars had a sun”
http://www.collegehumor.com/picture/6815284/person-didnt-know-mars-had-a-sun
The simplest explanation continues to be water vapor dissociating. But, there are lots of processes on Mars that no one really has a handle on. There are good images of sinkholes that can’t be the result of limestone dissolving in ground water. The best explanations are either water ice or CO2 ice subliming. Given the temperatures in some regions where these holes have been observed, water ice seems more reasonable. That would mean that there could be very considerable deposits of nearly pure ice buried under the apparent mineral surface.
How did (if it did) a hotter sun affect the heavier planets a billion years ago? Would a cooling sun, assuming it has cooled as its gotten older, affect the iron cores?
I was of the impression NASA was busy teaching muslims about technology and torturing data?
And they have time for this?
Is Earth’s atmosphere also lossy? Is there going to be a tipping point … no … no … not THAT tipping point … the other one. The really, really, really bad one.
“Initial SAM results show an increase of five percent in heavier isotopes of carbon in the atmospheric carbon dioxide compared to estimates of the isotopic ratios present when Mars formed. ”
Astounding finding. And tell me what is the expected accuracy of estimating the isotopic ration “when Mars was formed”.
Get real !!
“Gene Selkov says: etc”
There seems to be some circular logic in that paper… In order for the theory to work, the number must be X, so assume the number is X … since the number is X the theory works.
I do find it strange that Mars and Venus both have primarily CO2 atmospheres while Earth has a primarily N2 atmosphere. And I agree that current theory on why and how is also circular.
The reason for the two strange atmospheres – Venus and Mars – is that that many years ago, Venus and Mars were married. Then, after a bitter divorce, Venus took Mars to the cleaners, and her lawyer got here 98% of Mars’ atmosphere. You can’t trust those female planets, or their lawyers.
Duster D- Thanks for your reply. Makes sense given how reactive oxygen is.
Well I’m sure the absence of methane is a big disappointment to those who think Mars might be or had been teeming with life.
Obviously, they need to send a bigger truck up there with better instruments.
Seriously though; the feat of getting that gizmo up there and functioning, is itself a triumph. Can’t help but believe they will learn much that is valuable information we didn’t have before.
I happen to be one of those who don’t believe the universe is full of civilizations all over the place; or even uncivilizations like we have on earth.
In my view, the energetical improbabilities of all of the necessary chemical syntheses, in the required order, to get to a living organism, is enough to swamp all of the myriads of earthlike planets that must be out there; not one of which we have yet found.
When they get the very first binary digit of scientific evidence of life of any sort, outside the very thin shell it inhabits on earth; I’ll sit up and take notice. In the meantime, it is simply an endless research grant income stream. (for someone)
Re heavier isotopes of Carbon etc. Main cause of their formation, I assume, is the huge bombardment by cosmic rays, due to 1. little magnetic field and 2. very thin atmosphere.
Regarding lack of methane: this strongly suggests no life on Mars – even in the past. Primordial methane is a very unlikely component of the early atmospheres of the inner rocky planets (there is none on Venus for example) – unlike the outer gas giants. Earth’s methane is a result of having a biosphere and is most unlikely to have been present before early life formed.
Thanks Tom O. Now I know why Mars looks so angry.