Re: Zodiacal light linked to ancient Martian oceans

From: Doug... (dvandorn_at_NOSPAM.mn.rr.com)
Date: 06/01/04 

Date: Tue, 1 Jun 2004 13:40:03 -0500

In article <1085931228.730857@haldjas.folklore.ee>,
sander@haldjas.folklore.ee says...
> In sci.space.policy Herb Schaltegger <herbschaltegger@spamtrap.invalid> wrote:
> > In article <1085870641.676887@haldjas.folklore.ee>,
> > Sander Vesik <sander@haldjas.folklore.ee> wrote:
> >
> > > In sci.space.policy Herb Schaltegger <herbschaltegger@spamtrap.invalid> wrote:
> > > > In article <40B8A9C3.1090703@tabletoptelephone.com>,
> > > > Hop David <hopspageHATESSPAaMmM@tabletoptelephone.com> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > The words "Martian biosphere" seem to imply existence of Martian life.
> > > > > I'm skeptical Martian life has ever existed.
> > > >
> > > > I'm keeping an open mind, especially in light of (very) recent findings
> > > > of methane and possibly ammonia in the Martian atmosphere in amounts
> > > > which cannot be easily explained in the absence of biological processes.
> > > >
> > >
> > > Has anybody calculated how long a trace amount of methane would be present
> > > in martian atmosphere? For that matter - can it be ruled out that martian
> > > atmosphere didn't once conatin a lot of methane, most of which left?
> > >
> > > Just curious, not trying to naysay its biological origin.
> >
> > Here's the initial press release/story from ESA regarding methane:
> >
> > <http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEMZ0B57ESD_0.html>
>
> But that could be caused by occasional out-gassing from volcanic processes
> deep down inside the planet, no? Say once a century or even more seldom?
> It would be inetersting to see if the distribution is uniform and if the
> amount is constant or declining over time.

>From the looks of what I've seen, I think you can pretty well conclude
that Mars is not "teeming" with either life or volcanic activity.
Whatever is causing the methane and ammonia signatures is probably
fairly minor and localized. (Remember, even the indications of ice in
the regolith shows that it's not at all global -- it's somewhat
localized and not characteristic of the entire Martian surface.)

It would be good to see just how widespread these results are, though --
and to see if there's any correlation between the methane/ammonia
signatures and particular forms of topography or geology...

Doug
dvandorn@NOSPAM.mn.rr.com

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Zodiacal light linked to ancient Martian oceans
    ... > But that could be caused by occasional out-gassing from volcanic processes ... > deep down inside the planet, ... Whatever is causing the methane and ammonia signatures is probably ...
    (sci.space.policy)
  • Re: Zodiacal light linked to ancient Martian oceans
    ... > But that could be caused by occasional out-gassing from volcanic processes ... > deep down inside the planet, ... Whatever is causing the methane and ammonia signatures is probably ...
    (sci.space.history)
Quantcast