03/11/2012 10:42
No methane on Mars found
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has detected no methane in its first analyses of the Martian atmosphere — news that will doubtless disappoint those who hope to find life on the Red Planet, the NBC News reports.
Chris Webster of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, is the instrument lead for SAM Tunable Laser Spectrometer. He promised attendees of Friday's press call that he would answer the question eventually, says the CNN.
But the bombshell was delivered in one sentence: "We have no definitive detection of methane."
This is perhaps a disappointment for anyone who thought signs of life would come this early in Curiosity's two-year mission. Curiosity is using the Sample Analysis at Mars instrument (SAM) to help scientists probe the atmosphere.
"We’re going to keep looking in the months ahead," Webster said. "Mars, as we know, may yet hold surprises for us."