In 2003, scientists from NASA's Goddard Space Center made the first-ever detection of trace amounts of methane in Mars' atmosphere, a find which was confirmed a year later by the ESA's Mars Express orbiter. In December of 2014, the Curiosity rover detected a tenfold spike of methane at the base of the Gale Crater, and uncovered evidence that indicated that Mars has a seasonal methane cycle, where levels peak in the late northern summer.
The existence of methane gas on Mars has been long been held to be potential evidence for the existence of past or present life. So it was quite the downer last week (on Dec. 12th) when the science team behind one of the ESA's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) spectrometers announced that they had found no traces of methane in Mars' atmosphere.
Maybe the Martians are hiding.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Sunday December 23 2018, @05:50AM (1 child)
What would i be a shill for? Bad puns? Gratuitous references to geek culture?
It's understandable why you might disbelieve that i worked for Bill Clinton. When confronted with the yawning gulf of cataclysmic incompetence that a former insider says cuts through the heart of the government and global power elite, many prefer to reject that truth in favor of a more comforting explanation that the person telling them about it is a liar or a fantasist. That seems to still be so, incredibly, despite Trump laying that bare the last two years.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 23 2018, @06:52AM
Is this supposed to be surprising? Did you see that thing where a congresswoman thinks putin invaded korea?