Methane on Mars is not of volcanic origin

On this photo taken by Hubble on October 28, it is clear that a storm is sweeping on the red planet: the red area shines

That is the result of research by US scientist Vladimir Krasnopolsky after searching in the atmosphere of the ' red planet ' another gas that is sprayed in large quantities by volcanoes on Earth: sulfur dioxide (SO2).

Since one of the instruments of the European Mars Express probe has detected methane in Mars's atmosphere, scientists are trying to find the source of the gas.

Earth's methane is primarily produced by living organisms, thus stimulating the curiosity of researchers. Another source of methane is from geology, possibly due to a volcanic activity. The rest is tracing these volcanoes.

Krasnopolsky scientist from the Catholic University of Washington studied the presence of SO2 to detect volcanic wastes. Measurements made by one of the telescopes in Hawaii found no trace of SO2.

However, it is too early to conclude that Mars methane is of biological origin. Future measurements of the PFS spectrometer (Planetary Fourier Spectrometer) of Mars Express, which once discovered methane in 2004, will allow validation of these studies.