HAVE REVEALED THE DATA SUBMITTED BY ESA's Mars Express
Methane on Mars: is
think of a biological origin
confirmed the presence of gas. May have formed from the decomposition of plants or animals
RELATED NEWS
The video
The Mars Express orbiter has detected large amounts of methane MarteMILANO - Then the methane there seems to be really on Mars and this means that the search for life in which the gas can be linked, is becoming more interesting. He discusses a few years, since 2004, in particular, Professor Vittorio Formisano of the Institute of Interplanetary Space Physics, reported to have found evidence by examining data from the ESA probe Mars Express. Other groups have also demonstrated this possibility but the discussions continued. Now, Michael J. Mumma of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center said in a press conference and wrote on the American journal Science have found significant quantities of natural gas from three zones: Nili Fossae, Syrtis Major and Sabae Earth. The detected gas exits the ground at a rate of 0.6 kilograms per second and it was determined that the Martian summer 2003 within a few months to be out about 21 thousand tons of methane. "This is definitive proof of its presence on Mars' note Mumma investigating this possibility since 2001. Now he has analyzed the light reflected from the areas concerned through spectroscopic analysis by noting the absorption of some lines that testify to the presence of the precious gas. The discussions were on in the past because of the observations in 2006 seemed to show that much of the same gas was gone. Deepening the study, the result was different.
WHERE IS? - But now arises the fundamental question of its origin and researchers here are still greatly divided. The provenance is explained, can result from biological processes (digestion of animal or animal or vegetable decay) or geological changes, volcanic activity and hot springs underground. Of the latter, however, the evidence is scarce, so now the party of supporters of the biological argument seems to be very strong. "Maybe we think that deep Martian life is really hidden even today," notes Lisa M. Pratt of Indiana University. It remains the difficulty of detection of methane now performed by Earth telescopes in Hawaii. Of course we now see is the exploration carried out with the probes and robots per trovare conferma. E la prossima spedizione del grande rover Mars Science Laboratory della Nasa delle dimensioni di un SUV alimentato con energia nucleare sembra essere l’occasione adatta. La partenza di questo rover è stata rinviata al 2011 per difficoltà nella costruzione ed uno dei suoi possibili obiettivi di sbarco era proprio Nili Fossae che poi era stato però cambiato. Ora visto il rinvio, alla Nasa stanno considerando il ripristino della meta proprio per verificare se l’area è ricca di emissioni metanifere. La discussione si sta facendo sempre più interessante.
Giovanni Caprara
16 gennaio 2009
0 comments:
Post a Comment