The possibility of finding life on our neighbor, the red planet, Mars, has once again jumped to the fore after the discovery of traces of methane in six volcanic rock meteorites from Mars that were recovered on Earth. The study has been carried out by a team of scientists from Yale University (USA)
The researchers examined samples from these six Martian meteorites. The results of the tests revealed that they contain gases in the same proportion and with the same isotopic composition as the atmosphere of Mars , also finding methane by crushing the rocks and passing the outgoing gas through a mass spectrometer.
This discovery could mean that rudimentary forms of life may exist under the surface of Mars that feed on methane, since on our planet, there are various microbes that survive thanks to this ability in many environments.
" Our results will likely be used by astrobiologists in models and experiments aimed at understanding whether life could survive below the surface of Mars today," explains Sean McMahon.
Even not knowing where this methane source comes from, this study shows that Martian rocks have a large reserve of this gas .
"Even if Martian methane doesn't feed microbes directly, it can signal the presence of a warm, moist, chemically reactive environment where life could thrive, " McMahon clarifies.
