Comments on: Methane on Mars

By: Terry_Jim

Terry_Jim — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 04:14:59 +0000

Saturn’s Moon Titan has seas of methane and ethane.
How likely are they to have been the product of microbes?

Perhaps finding hydrocarbons on lifeless worlds means that ‘fossil’ fuels have nothing to do with prehistoric biology, but are actually products of geology and abiotic processes.
A comment in a British paper may hold the
answer to the methane in space question:
“It came from Uranus.”

By: Cap'n Bob

Cap'n Bob — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 04:06:02 +0000

When I read your comment to Damsel, Sig, it made her snort. Maybe they can get the whole planet to light up and then we’ll have a binary star system like the one postulated in the 2010 movie. That would be COOL - not for the Martian cows, though.

By: sig94

sig94 — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 17:50:49 +0000

The new landers will have Bic lighters attached to the outside so they can light Mars farts. If they hit the motherlode we’ll be able to see it with the naked eye on Earth as the lander gets blown to Neptune.

By: Cap'n Bob

Cap'n Bob — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 16:41:07 +0000

Ha! Thanks Glenn. I never thought that Mars could be subject to ‘bovinepogenic global warming.’ An interesting theory.

Maybe we will still be around when the actual source of Martian methane is verified. I look forward to the next Mars landers which will have this new discovery as a priority science investigation, no doubt.

By: Glenn B

Glenn B — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 14:56:55 +0000

Maybe it is a remnant of the gas left behind by farting Martian cows of yesteryear! That would explain how Mars came to be so desolate, the cows farted, Global Warming took place on mars, and the end was assured.

Now to get serious, it sure would be interesting to see the results down here if they discover life up there is producing it.

All the best,
GB