The presence of methane in Mars is causing something complicated. Astrobiologists consider methane an important chemical because it can be made by living organisms and microbes. However, it can also be produced by organic processes. Although methane has been detected on Mars in previous studies, it was not always found. While some instruments have detected methane on Mars, others have not. A new study is now underway to solve this mystery. It examines the differences in methane levels at night and day on Mars.Curiosity's Curiosity rover detected methane above Mars' Gale Crater, but not in its high atmosphere by Trace Gas Orbiter. (TGO), an European Space Agency spacecraft orbiting around Mars that takes precise readings. Scientists were shocked by this discovery.Chris Webster, the lead of the Tunable laser spectrometer (TLS), in the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM chemistry lab aboard Curiosity's Curiosity rover, stated that I expected the orbiter team to report a tiny amount of methane on Mars when the Trace Gas Orbiter arrived onboard in 2016. When the European team said it had not seen any methane, I was shocked.Webster's team looked into the possibility that methane could be coming from the rover. Webster explained that we examined the correlations between the pointing of a rover, ground, crushing of rocks, wheel degradation, and other factors. It is hard to overstate how much effort was put in by the team to ensure that these measurements were accurate.The next possibility was that both Curiosity's TLS and TGO readings were correct and that the differences were due Mars' day-night cycle. TLS on Curiosity is most active at night because it uses a lot more power. TGO, however, operates during daylight as it depends on sunlight. John E. Moores, co-author of Curiosity explained that methane can build up in the night when the atmosphere remains calm and evaporate during the day as the sun heats the atmosphere.Moores stated that any atmosphere close to a planet's surface experiences a day-to-day cycle. I realized that no instrument, even an orbiting one would be able to see anything.Curiosity further supports this theory by showing that methane levels in Gale Crater were virtually zero during the day.This may help to explain what's happening in this region. However, there is still a bigger question about global methane levels. The orbiter should still see methane if Gale Crater does not contain methane leaking from the rocks.Researchers are currently conducting more experiments to determine what happens to methane at the surface and in the atmosphere.Recommendations of Editors
