Researchers find methane on Mars
Washington: A team of NASA scientists has found proof of the existence of methane gas on Mars, raising questions about the possibility of life on the red planet, the US space agency said on Thursday. In an article published in the journal Science, researchers said they found seasonal variations in methane in the planet's atmosphere that could be evidence of geological or biological processes. On Earth, 90 percent of the gas is produced by living things such as the fermentation of organic material or gas released by livestock, but geochemical processes also produce levels of the gas similar to those found on Mars, the scientists said. "Mars could be more active than we have long believed," astrophysicist Geronimo Villaneuva told DPA in an interview before the findings were released. It is unclear whether the methane was produced by bacteria or from so called methane ice deposits, he said. "The question of the possibility of life on Mars is now asked anew." Scient...