It was just a couple of days ago that NASA announced something pretty exciting about Mars. Its Curiosity rover had detected shockingly high levels of methane, suggesting an unseen geological or even biological process was at work on the planet. Signs of past or present life? Perhaps, but a follow-up reading has now generated more questions than answers.
Gas detected by Curiosity rover may have been released from fractured Martian permafrost
The rover also discovered more signs of organic molecules
The mystery isn’t just that we see methane when we shouldn’t. It’s also that, in a sense, we see too much of it.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists have combined biology and 3D printing to create the first reactor that can continuously produce methanol from methane at room temperature and pressure.
The red planet once hosted vast oceans on its surface, which is considered one of the most vital properties necessary for life to thrive.
A mysterious spike of methane picked up by the Curiosity rover two years ago has yet to reoccur.
