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1.
Understanding the origin of Martian methane will require numerous complementary measurements from both in situ and remote sensing investigations and laboratory work to correlate planetary surface geophysics with atmospheric dynamics and chemistry. Three instruments (Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer (QMS), Gas Chromatograph (GC) and Tunable Laser Spectrometer (TLS)) with sophisticated sample handling and processing capability make up the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) analytical chemistry suite on NASA’s 2011 Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Mission. Leveraging off the SAM sample and gas processing capability that includes methane enrichment, TLS has unprecedented sensitivity for measuring absolute methane (parts-per-trillion), water, and carbon dioxide abundances in both the Martian atmosphere and evolved from heated soil samples. In concert with a wide variety of associated trace gases (e.g. SO2, H2S, NH3, higher hydrocarbons, organics, etc.) and other isotope ratios measured by SAM, TLS will focus on determining the absolute abundances of methane, water and carbon dioxide, and their isotope ratios: 13C/12C and D/H in methane; 13C/12C and 18O/17O/16O in carbon dioxide; and 18O/17O/16O and D/H in water. Measurements near the MSL landing site will be correlated with satellite (Mars Express, Mars 2016) and ground-based observations.  相似文献   

2.
Abstract— The origin of hematite detected in Martian surface materials is commonly attributed to weathering processes or aqueous precipitation. Here, we present a new hematite formation mechanism that requires neither water nor weathering. Glass‐rich basalts with Martian meteorite‐like chemistry (high FeO, low Al2O3) oxidized at high (700 and 900 °C) temperatures in air and CO2, respectively, form thin (<1 μm) hematite coatings on their outermost surfaces. Hematite is manifested macroscopically by development of magnetism and a gray, metallic sheen on the glass surface and microscopically by Fe enrichment at the glass surface observed in element maps. Visible and near‐infrared, thermal infrared, and Raman spectroscopy confirm that the Fe enrichment at the oxidized glass surfaces corresponds to hematite mineralization. Hematite formation on basaltic glass is enabled by a mechanism that induces migration of Fe2+ to the surface of an oxidizing glass and subsequent oxidation to form hematite. A natural example of the hematite formation mechanism is provided by a Hawaiian basalt hosting a gray, metallic sheen that corresponds to a thin hematite coating. Hematite coating development on the Hawaiian basalt demonstrates that Martian meteorite‐like FeO contents are not required for hematite coating formation on basalt glass and that such coatings form during initial extrusion of the glassy basalt flows. If gray hematite originating as coatings on glassy basalt flows is an important source of Martian hematite, which is feasible given the predominance of igneous features on Mars, then the requirement of water as an agent of hematite formation is eliminated.  相似文献   

3.
It has been reported by several groups that methane in the Martian atmosphere is both spatially and temporally variable. Gough et al. (2010) suggested that temperature dependent, reversible physical adsorption of methane onto Martian soils could explain this variability. However, it is also useful to consider if there might be chemical destruction of methane (and compensating sources) operating on seasonal time scales. The lifetime of Martian methane due to known chemical loss processes is long (on the order of hundreds of years). However, observations constrain the lifetime to be 4 years or less, and general circulation models suggest methane destruction must occur even faster (<1 year) to cause the reported variability and rapid disappearance. The Martian surface is known to be highly oxidizing based on the Viking Labeled Release experiments in which organic compounds were quickly oxidized by samples of the regolith. Here we test if simulated Martian soil is also oxidizing towards methane to determine if this is a relevant loss pathway for Martian methane. We find that although two of the analog surfaces studied, TiO2·H2O2 and JSC-Mars-1 with H2O2, were able to oxidize the complex organic compounds (sugars and amino acids) used in the Viking Labeled Release experiments, these analogs were unable to oxidize methane to carbon dioxide within a 72 h experiment. Sodium and magnesium perchlorate, salts that were recently discovered at the Phoenix landing site and are potential strong oxidants, were not observed to directly oxidize either the organic solution or methane. The upper limit reaction coefficient, α, was found to be <4×10?17 for methane loss on TiO2·H2O2 and <2×10?17 for methane loss on JSC-Mars-1 with H2O2. Unless the depth of soil on Mars that contains H2O2 is very deep (thicker than 500 m), the lifetime of methane with respect to heterogeneous oxidation by H2O2 is probably greater than 4 years. Therefore, reaction of methane with H2O2 on Martian soils does not appear to be a significant methane sink, and would not destroy methane rapidly enough to cause the reported atmospheric methane variability.  相似文献   

4.
An isothermal reservoir of carbon dioxide in gaseous contact with the Martian atmosphere would reduce the amplitude and advance the phase of global atmospheric pressure fluctuations caused by seasonal growth and decline of polar CO2 frost caps. Adsorbed carbon dioxide in the upper ～10 m of Martian regolith is sufficient to buffer the present atmosphere on a seasonal basis. Available observations and related polar cap models do not confirm or refute the operation of such a mechanism. Implications for the amplitude and phase of seasonal pressure fluctuations are subject to direct test by the upcoming Viking mission to Mars.  相似文献   

5.
The combined observations of Saturn's moon Enceladus by the Cassini CAPS, INMS and UVIS instruments detected water vapor geysers in which were present molecular nitrogen (N2), carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), propane (C3H8), acetylene (C2H2), and several other species, together with all of the decomposition products of water. We propose that the presence of N2 in the plume indicates thermal decomposition of ammonia, and hence high temperatures in the interior of the moon (e.g., 500 to 800 K). Such an environment also appears to be suitable for the production of methane (CH4) from carbon monoxide (CO), or carbon dioxide (CO2). The presence of C2H2 and C3H8 strongly suggest that catalytic reactions took place within a very hot environment. The internal environment of Enceladus is inferred to be or have been favorable for aqueous, catalytic chemistry. This permits the synthesis of many complex organic compounds that could be detected in future Cassini observations.  相似文献   

6.
We examine the response of Martian climate to changes in solar energy deposition caused by variations of the Martian orbit and obliquity. We systematically investigate the seasonal cycles of carbon dioxide, water, and dust to provide a complete picture of the climate for various orbital configurations. We find that at low obliquity (15°) the atmospheric pressure will fall below 1 mbar; dust storms will cease; thick permanent CO2 caps will form; the regolith will release CO2; and H2O polar ice sheets will develop as the permafrost boundaries move poleward. At high obliquity (35°) the annual average polar temperature will increase by about 10°K, slightly desorbing the polar regolith and causing the atmospheric pressure to increase by not more than 10 to 20 mbar. Summer polar ground temperatures as high as 273°K will occur. Water ice caps will be unstable and may disappear as the equilibrium permafrost boundary moves equatorward. However, at high eccentricity, polar ice sheets will be favored at one pole over the other. At high obliquity dust storms may occur during summers in both hemispheres, independent of the eccentricity cycle. Eccentricity and longitude of perihelion are most significant at modest obliquity (25°). At high eccentricity and when the longitude of perihelion is close to the location of solstice hemispherical asymmetry in dust-storm generation and in polar ice extent and albedo will occur.The systematic examination of the relation of climate and planetary orbit provides a new theory for the formation of the polar laminae. The terraced structure of the polar laminae originates when eccentricity and/or obliquity variations begin to drive water ice off the dusty permanent H2O polar caps. Then a thin (meters) layer of consolidated dust forms on top of a dirty, slightly thicker (tens of meters) ice sheet and the composite is preserved as a layer of laminae composed predominately of water ice. Because of insolation variation on slopes, a series of poleward- and equatorward-facing scarps are formed where the edges of the laminae are exposed. Independently of orbital variations, these scarps propagate poleward both by erosion of the equatorward slopes and by deposition on the poleward slopes. Scarp propagation resurfaces and recycles the laminae forming the distinctive spiral bands of terraces observed and provides a supply of water to form new permanent ice caps. The polar laminae boundary marks the furthest eqautorward extension of the permanent H2O caps as the orbit varies. The polar debris boundary marks the furthest equatorward extension of the annual CO2 caps as the orbit varies.The Martian regolith is now a significant geochemical sink for carbon dioxide. CO2 has been irreversibly removed from the atmosphere by carbonate formation. CO2 has also benn removed by regolith adsorption. Polar temperature increases caused by orbital variations are not great enough  相似文献   

7.
It has been suggested that the residual polar caps of Mars contain a reservoir of permanently frozen carbon dioxide which is controlling the atmospheric pressure. However, observational data and models of the polar heat balance suggest that the temperatures of the Martian poles are too high for solid CO2 to survive permanently. On the other hand, the icelike compound carbon dioxide-water clathrate (CO2 · 6H2O) could function as a CO2 reservoir instead of solid CO2, because it is stable at higher temperatures. This paper shows that the permanent polar caps may contain several millibars of CO2 in the form of clathrate, and discusses the implications of this permanent clathrate reservoir for the present and past atmospheric pressure on Mars.  相似文献   

8.
It has been suggested that the present release rate of methane to the Martian atmosphere could be the result of serpentinization in the deep subsurface, followed by the conversion of H2 to CH4 in a CO2-rich fluid. Making this assumption, we show that the cryosphere could act as a buffer storing, under the form of micron-size methane clathrate particles, the methane delivered from below by hydrothermal fluids and progressively releasing it to the atmosphere at the top. From an extrapolation of the present CH4 release rate back to the past, we calculate that up to several hundred millibars (～200–2000 mbar) of CO2, resulting from the oxidation of the released CH4, in addition to the volcanic supply (～400 mbar), should have accumulated in the atmosphere in the absence of a CO2 sink. We reassess the capability of escape to have removed CO2 from the atmosphere by C non-thermal escape and show that it is not significant. We suggest that atmospheric carbon is recycled to the crust through an active subsurface hydrological system, and precipitates as carbonates within the crust. During episodic periods of magmatic activity, these carbonates are decomposed to CO2 dissolved in running water, and CO2 can react with H2 formed by serpentinization to build CH4. CH4 is then buffered in the subsurface cryosphere, above the water table, and finally released to the atmosphere, before being recycled to the subsurface hydrological system, and converted back to carbonates. We propose a typical evolution curve of the CO2 pressure since the late Noachian based on our hypothesis. Contrary to the steady state carbon cycle at work on Earth, a progressive damping of the carbon cycle occurs on Mars due to the absence of plate tectonics and the progressive cooling of the planet.  相似文献   

9.
The isotopic composition of carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere from the measurements of Mars Science Laboratory have been used to estimate the relative abundances of CO2 isotopologues in the Martian atmosphere. Concurrently, this study has revealed long-standing errors in the amounts of some of low-abundance CO2 isotopologues in the Earth’s atmosphere in the databases of spectroscopic parameters of gases (HITRAN, etc.).  相似文献   

10.
We present the discovery of a new vibrational band system of isotopic CO2 (carbon dioxide) near 3.3 μm, with multiple strong P, Q and R lines in the prime spectral region used to search for Mars CH4 (methane). The band system was discovered on Mars using high-resolution spectrometers (λ/δλ>40,000, CSHELL and NIRSPEC) at telescopes (NASA-IRTF and Keck-2) atop Mauna Kea, HI. The observed line intensities and frequencies agree very well with values predicted by a vibrational band model that we developed using known parameters for the molecular levels involved. Using this model, we synthesized spectra for different observing conditions (from Space and ground-based telescopes) and for different spectral resolving powers (5000 to 40,000). Although the total atmospheric burden on Mars is more than 150 times smaller than on Earth, the greater mixing ratio of CO2 ensures that its column abundance on Mars is almost 20 times greater than on Earth. Thus, weak telluric CO2 band systems appear much stronger on Mars. Many molecules of possible biological and geothermal interest have strong signatures at these wavelengths, in particular hydrocarbons owing to their strong ro-vibrational CH stretching modes. For example, the new isotopic CO2 band-system encompasses lines of CH4, C2H6 (ethane), CH3OH (methanol) and H2O (water). Implications for previous and future searches of biomarker gases are presented.  相似文献   

11.
Yan Tang  Yujie Huang 《Icarus》2006,180(1):88-92
The detection of gray crystalline hematite deposits on Mars by Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) has been used to argue for the presence of liquid water on Mars in the distant past. By methanol-thermal treatment of anhydrous FeCl3 at low temperatures (70-160 °C), crystalline gray hematite with layered structure was synthesized, based on this result an alternative explanation for the origin of martian hematite deposits is suggested. Methane could be abundant in the early martian atmosphere; process such as photochemical oxidation of methane could result in the formation of ocean or pool of organic compounds such as methanol, which provides an environment for the formation of large-scale hematite deposits on Mars.  相似文献   

12.
Greenhouse warming due to carbon dioxide atmospheres may be responsible for maintaining the early Earth's surface temperature above freezing and may even have allowed for liquid water on early Mars. However, the high levels of CO2 required for such warming should have also resulted in the formation of CO2 clouds. These clouds, depending on their particle size, could lead to either warming or cooling. The particle size in turn is determined by the nucleation and growth conditions. Here we present laboratory studies of the nucleation and growth of carbon dioxide on water ice under martian atmospheric conditions. We find that a critical saturation, S=1.34, is required for nucleation, corresponding to a contact parameter between solid water and solid carbon dioxide of m=0.95. We also find that after nucleation occurs, growth of CO2 is very rapid, and we report the growth rates at a number of supersaturations. Because growth would be expected to continue until the CO2 pressure is lowered to its vapor pressure, we expect particles larger than those being currently suggested for the present and past martian atmospheres. Using this information in a microphysical model described in a companion paper, we find that CO2 clouds are best described as “snow,” having a relatively small number of large particles.  相似文献   

13.
We report a study on the broadband ultraviolet photolysis of methane-water ice mixtures, at low methane concentrations and temperatures relevant to the icy satellites of the outer Solar System. The photochemistry of these mixtures is dominated by the action of hydroxyl radicals on methane and the resulting products. This implies that, given sufficient exposure time, the methane will eventually be completely oxidized to carbon dioxide. The presence of methane inhibits the formation of hydrogen peroxide by serving as a trap for hydroxyl radicals. The distribution of photochemical products is broadly similar to that previously conducted using ion and electron sources, with some differences possibly attributable to the difference in radiation source. The results are applicable to a variety of icy bodies in the Solar System. On Enceladus, where methane mixed with water is measured in the plumes, methane in the surface ices is subject to oxidation and will eventually be converted to CO2. The CH stretch feature detected in the VIMS spectra of the Enceladus surface ice suggests that methane is currently being supplied to the surface ice, likely from re-condensation of the plume gas.  相似文献   

14.
George Ohring 《Icarus》1975,24(3):388-394
The concept is described of deducing the temperature and constituent profile of a planetary atmosphere from orbiter measurements of the planet's ir limb radiance profile. Expressions are derived for the weighting functions associated with the limb radiance profile for a Goody random band model. Analysis of the weighting functions for the Martian atmosphere indicates that a limb radiance profile in the 15 μm CO2 band can be used to determine the Martian atmospheric temperature profile from 20 to 60 km. Simulation of the Martian limb radiance profile in the rotational water vapor band indicates that Martian water vapor mixing ratios can be inferred from limb radiance observations in a water vapor band.  相似文献   

15.
Mars is thought to have hosted large amounts of water and carbon dioxide at primitive epochs. The morphological analysis of the surface of Mars shows that large bodies of water were probably present in the North hemisphere at late Noachian (3.7–4 Gyr ago). Was this water solid or liquid? For maintaining liquid water at this time, when the Sun was (likely) less bright than now, a CO2 atmosphere of typically 2 bars is required. Can sputtering, still presently acting at the top of the Martian atmosphere, have removed such a dense atmosphere over the last 3.5–4 Gyr? What was the fate of the 100–200 m global equivalent layer of water present at late Noachian? When did Martian magnetic dynamo vanish, initiating a long period of intense escape by sputtering? Because sputtering efficiency is highly non-linear with solar EUV flux, with a logarithmic slope of ≈7:Φsput≈ΦEUV7, resulting in enhanced levels of escape at primitive epochs, when the sun was several times more luminous than now in the EUV, there is a large uncertainty on the cumulated amount of volatiles removed to space. This amount depends primarily on two factors: (i) the exact value of the non-linearity exponent (≈7 from existing models, but this value is rather uncertain), (ii) the exact time when the dynamo collapsed, activating sputtering at epochs when intense EUV flux and solar wind activity prevailed in the solar system. Both parameters are only crudely known at the present time, due the lack of direct observation of sputtering from Martian orbit, and to the incomplete and insufficiently spatially resolved map of the crustal magnetic field. Precise timing of the past Martian dynamo can be investigated through the demagnetisation signature associated with impact craters. A designated mission to Mars would help in answering this crucial question: was water liquid at the surface of Mars at late Noachian? Such a mission would consist of a low periapsis (≈100 km) orbiter, equipped with a boom-mounted magnetometer, for mapping the magnetic field, as well as adequate in situ mass and energy spectrometers, for a full characterization of escape and of its response to solar activity variations. Surface based observations of atmospheric noble gas isotopic ratios, which keep the signatures of past escape processes, including sputtering for the lightest of them (Ne, Ar), would bring a key constraint for escape models extrapolated back to the past.  相似文献   

16.
The thermal emission spectrometer (TES) and the radio science (RS) experiment flying on board the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft have made observations of atmospheric temperatures below the saturation temperature of carbon dioxide (CO2). This supersaturated air provides a source of convective available potential energy (CAPE), which, when realized may result in vigorous convective mixing. To this point, most Mars atmospheric models have assumed vertical mixing only when the dry adiabatic lapse rate is exceeded. Mixing associated with the formation of CO2 clouds could have a profound effect on the vertical structure of the polar night, altering the distribution of temperature, aerosols, and gasses.Presented in this work are estimates of the total planetary inventory of CAPE and the potential convective energy flux (PCEF) derived from RS and TES temperature profiles. A new Mars Global Circulation Model (MGCM) CO2 cloud model is developed to better understand the distribution of observed CAPE and its potential effect on Martian polar dynamics and heat exchange, as well as effects on the climate as a whole. The new CO2 cloud model takes into account the necessary cloud microphysics that allow for supersaturation to occur and includes a parameterization for CO2 cloud convection. It is found that when CO2 cloud convective mixing is included, model results are in much better agreement with the observations of the total integrated CAPE as well as total column non-condensable gas concentrations presented by Sprague et al. [2005a, GRS measurements of Ar in Mars’ atmosphere, American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #37, #24.08, and 2005b, Distribution and Abundance of Mars’ Atmospheric Argon, 36th Annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, #2085] When the radiative effects of water ice clouds are included the agreement is further improved.  相似文献   

17.
The interaction of carbon dioxide and amorphous water ice at 95 K is studied using transmission infrared spectroscopy. Samples are prepared in two ways: co-deposition of the gases admitted simultaneously or sequential deposition, in which amorphous water ice (ASW) is grown first and CO2 vapor is added subsequently. In either case, a fraction of the CO2 molecules is found to interact with water in a way that gives rise to shifts and splittings in the infrared bands with respect to those of a pure CO2 solid. In co-deposition experiments, a larger amount of carbon dioxide is trapped within the amorphous water than in sequential deposition samples, where a substantial proportion of molecules appears to be trapped in macropores of the ASW. The specific surface area of sequential samples is evaluated and compared to previous literature results. When the sequential samples are heated to 140 K, beyond the onset temperature at which water ice undergoes a phase transition, the CO2 molecules at the pores relocate inside the bulk in a structure similar to that found in co-deposited samples, as deduced by changes in the shape of the CO2 infrared bands.  相似文献   

18.
In the history of Mars exploration its atmosphere and planetary climatology aroused particular interest. In the study of the minor gases abundance in the Martian atmosphere, water vapour became especially important, both because it is the most variable trace gas, and because it is involved in several processes characterizing the planetary atmosphere. The water vapour photolysis regulates the Martian atmosphere photochemistry, and so it is strictly related to carbon monoxide. The CO study is very important for the so-called “atmosphere stability problem”, solved by the theoretical modelling involving photochemical reactions in which the H2O and the CO gases are main characters.The Planetary Fourier Spectrometer (PFS) on board the ESA Mars Express (MEX) mission can probe the Mars atmosphere in the infrared spectral range between 200 and 2000 cm?1 (5–50 μm) with the Long Wavelength Channel (LWC) and between 1700 and 8000 cm?1 (1.2–5.8 μm) with the Short Wavelength Channel (SWC). Although there are several H2O and CO absorption bands in the spectral range covered by PFS, we used the 3845 cm?1 (2.6 μm) and the 4235 cm?1 (2.36 μm) bands for the analysis of water vapour and carbon monoxide, respectively, because these ranges are less affected by instrumental problems than the other ones. The gaseous concentrations are retrieved by using an algorithm developed for this purpose.The PFS/SW dataset used in this work covers more than two and a half Martian years from Ls=62° of MY 27 (orbit 634) to Ls=203° of MY 29 (orbit 6537). We measured a mean column density of water vapour of about 9.6 pr. μm and a mean mixing ratio of carbon monoxide of about 990 ppm, but with strong seasonal variations at high latitudes. The seasonal water vapour map reproduces very well the known seasonal water cycle. In the northern summer, water vapour and CO show a good anticorrelation most of the time. This behaviour is due to the carbon dioxide and water sublimation from the north polar ice cap, which dilutes non-condensable species including carbon monoxide. An analogous process takes place during the winter polar cap, but in this case the condensation of carbon dioxide and water vapour causes an increase of the concentration of non-condensable species. Finally, the results show the seasonal variation of the carbon monoxide mixing ratio with the surface pressure.  相似文献   

19.
James L. Gooding 《Icarus》1978,33(3):483-513
Chemical weathering on Mars is examined theoretically from the standpoint of heterogeneous equilibrium between solid mineral phases and gaseous O2, H2O, and CO2 in the Martian atmosphere. Thermochemical calculations are performed in order to identify important gas-solid decomposition reactions involving the major mineral constituents of mafic igneous rocks. Where unavailable in the thermochemical literature, Gibbs free energy and enthalpy of formation are estimated for certain minerals and details of these estimation procedures are given. Partial pressure stability diagrams are presented to show pertinent mineral reaction boundaries at 298 and at 240°K. In the present Martian environment, the thermodynamically stable products of gas-solid weathering of individual minerals at 240°K should be Fe2O3, as hematite or maghemite (from fayalite, magnetite, and Fe-bearing pyroxenes), quartz (from all silicates), calcite (from Ca-bearing pyroxenes and plagioclase), magnesite (from forsterite and Mg-bearing pyroxenes), corundum (from all Al-bearing silicates), Ca-beidellite (from anorthite), and szomolnokite, FeSO4 or FeSO4·H2O (from iron sulfides). Albite, microcline, and apatite should be stable with respect to gas-solid decomposition, suggesting that gas-solid weathering products on Mars may be depleted in Na, K, and P (and, possibly, Cl and F). Certain montmorillonite-type clay minerals are thermodynamically favorable intermediate gas-solid decomposition products of Al-bearing pyroxenes and may be metastable intermediate products of special mineral surface reaction mechanisms. However, the predicted high thermodynamic susceptibility of these clay minerals to subsequent gas-solid decomposition implies that they should ultimately decompose in the present Martian surface environment. Kaolinite is apparently the only clay mineral which should be thermodynamically stable over all ranges of temperature and water vapor abundance in the present environment at the Martian surface. Considering thermodynamic criteria, including possible gas-solid decomposition reactions, it is doubtful that significant amounts of goethite and clay minerals can be currently forming on Mars by mechanisms known to operate to Earth. If major amounts of goethite and clay minerals occur on Mars, they probably owe their existence to formation in an environment characterized by the presence of liquid water or by mechanism possibly unique to Mars. In any case, any goethite or montmorillonite-type clay mineral on Mars must ultimately decompose.  相似文献   

20.
Despite the fact that microbial cells are unlikely to be found in the Martian soil in the near future, this paper is written on the assumption that some of the seasonally varying concentration of Martian methane is due to ongoing methanogenesis. It is first pointed out that life might have arisen on Mars first and been transported to Earth later. A case is made that an icy origin of life is more likely than a hot origin, especially if biomolecules take advantage of the high encounter rates and stability against hydrolysis, and that microorganisms feed on the ions that comprise eutectic solutions in ice. Although certain difficulties are avoided if RNA and DNA grow while adsorbed on clay grains, double strand-breaks of microbial DNA due to alpha radioactivity are a far greater threat to microbial survival on clay or other rock types than in ice. Developing a relation between the rate of microbial metabolism in ice and the experimentally determined rate of production of trapped gases of microbial origin, one can estimate the concentration of methanogens that could account for the methane production rate as a function of temperature of their habitat. The result, of order 1 cell cm−3 in the Martian subsurface, seems an attainable goal provided samples are taken from at least 1 or 2 m below the hostile surface of Mars. Instruments on NASA’s 2011 Mars Science Lab will measure stable isotopes for methane, water, and carbon dioxide, which on Earth served to distinguish abiotic, thermogenic, and microbial origins. Future measurements of chirality of biomolecules might also provide evidence for Martian life.  相似文献   

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