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posted by janrinok on Monday April 30 2018, @08:51PM   Printer-friendly
from the sniff-up dept.

ExoMars returns first images from new orbit

The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter has returned the first images of the Red Planet from its new orbit.

The spacecraft arrived in a near-circular 400 km altitude orbit a few weeks ago ahead of its primary goal to seek out gases that may be linked to active geological or biological activity on Mars.

[...] The image captures a 40 km-long segment of Korolev Crater located high in the northern hemisphere. The bright material on the rim of the crater is ice.

[...] A long period of data collection will be needed to bring out the details, especially for particularly rare – or not even yet discovered – ingredients in the atmosphere. Trace gases, as hinted at from their name, are only present in very small amounts: that is, less than one percent of the volume of the planet's atmosphere. In particular, the orbiter will seek evidence of methane and other gases that could be signatures of active biological or geological activity. The camera will eventually help characterise features on the surface that may be related to trace gas sources.

ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter

Also at Space.com.


Original Submission

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Martian Methane Mystery: First Results from the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) 5 comments

Phys.org:

Reports of methane in the martian atmosphere have been intensely debated because detections have been very sporadic in time and location, and often fell at the limit of the instruments' detection limits. ESA's Mars Express contributed one of the first measurements from orbit in 2004, at that time indicating the presence of methane amounting to 10 ppbv.

Earth-based telescopes have also reported both non-detections and transient measurements up to about 45 ppbv, while NASA's Curiosity rover, exploring Gale Crater since 2012, has suggested a background level of methane that varies with the seasons between about 0.2 and 0.7 ppbv – with some higher level spikes. More recently, Mars Express observed a methane spike one day after one of Curiosity's highest-level readings.

The new results from TGO[*] provide the most detailed global analysis yet, finding an upper limit of 0.05 ppbv, that is, 10–100 times less methane than all previous reported detections. The most precise detection limit of 0.012 ppbv was achieved at 3 km altitude.

[*] TGO: ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter.

On Earth 95% of atmospheric methane is produced by living things, so the presence of methane in the Martian atmosphere has teased the possibility of life there.

Previously: ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter Begins Mapping the Atmosphere of Mars Remember the Discovery of Methane in the Martian Atmosphere? Now Scientists Can't Find Any Evidence


Original Submission

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  • (Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday May 01 2018, @02:10AM (4 children)

    STEP OUTSIDE NEXT TIME.

    --
    Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday May 01 2018, @03:09PM

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Tuesday May 01 2018, @03:09PM (#674160) Journal

    The presence of methane in the Martian atmosphere has been tantalizing for a while. It doesn't persist on its own, so it has to be constantly replenished by some process. A geological source would be exciting, because it would mean there is more dynamism present on that world than previously known, but of course a biological source would be the history-changing find.

    Let's hope the orbiter is able to narrow down the source locations so future surface probes can investigate.

    --
    Washington DC delenda est.
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