Three Independent Research Groups Confirm Finding

Don't get excited. Yet.

Three independent groups of scientists have confirmed that there are definite signs of methane in the thin atmosphere surrounding Mars.

"This report is very exciting," says Michael Mumma, of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt (MD). His was one of the findings that initially reported methane on Mars.

Methane can be a byproduct of bacterial growth, although there are ways in which the gas can be produced by non-organic sources. And while the spectral imaging equipment used by the three scientific teams is good -- a great improvement over past technology -- it's not yet good enough for a no-doubt-about-it conclusion.

"These are very high resolution spectra compared with the spectra that the PFS is returning from Mars Express," says Mumma, in an interview with New Scientist Magazine.

Still, the worldwide scientific community is all a-giggle. "The fact that methane is present on Mars means that there must be a source," says Vittorio Formisano of the Institute of Physics and Interplanetary Science in Rome. He's part of a team coordinated by the European Space Agency. The source could be volcanic. Or it could be organic.

Stay tuned.

FMI: New Scientist Magazine