NASA’s Curiosity rover has detected large amounts of Methane in the Martian air. That could be a sign that life exists lunderground on Mars.
The rover discovered the surprising amounts of the gas – which is typically created by living things on Earth – I the air while taking measurements on Wednesday. NASA has ordered more follow-up tests to begin this weekend.
According to a NASA spokesperson, Curiosity found 21-parts-per-billion of methane in the air (which is three times that of a similar test from 2013).
The discovery of these amounts of methane are exciting to scientists, because it might indicate that there are microbes living on Mars – possible the descendants of life that moved underground over the years.
It’s highly-speculated that around four billion years ago, Mars was a warmer, wetter and more hospitable environment for life.
Finding methane is an important discovery, because methane is easily broken up by sunlight and chemical reactions over the course of centuries.
The results of the follow-up tests are expected to be transmitted to Earth tomorrow.
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