[aruanan]

Couple these new findings with the mystery of methane being constantly replenished on Mars, we now have two strong indicators that there is life on that planet.

Where did you get the idea that methane is a positive indicator of living organisms? Some methane is produced by microbes, but the major portion is abiogenic. There are literally over a million tons of methane outgassing from the mantle of the earth every year. It didn't come from living organisms.

The major planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, have large amounts of methane and other hydrocarbon gases in their atmospheres. Titan, a large satellite of Saturn, has methane and ethane in its atmosphere, and these gases form clouds and behave much like water does in the atmosphere of the Earth. Triton, a large satellite of Neptune, appears to have hydrocarbons mixed with water ices on its surface, as does the outermost planet known at this time, Pluto.

[chessplayer]

Where did you get the idea that methane is a positive indicator of living organisms? Some methane is produced by microbes, but the major portion is abiogenic. There are literally over a million tons of methane outgassing from the mantle of the earth every year.

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Because methane is a positive indicator of life. You just said it yourself. Yeah, there is a lot of methane outgassing from the earth’s mantle. The earth is a very active world. Lots of plate tectonics, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions. Aside from wind, Mars is a geologically dead planet. The last tectonics, Marsquakes, or volcanic eruptions happened millions of years ago.

[jjotto]

oh brother

FReepers that don’t know that Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus have oceans of methane, clearly indicating to them that they are actually primeval jungle planets...