Martian Mud?

A while back I discussed the interesting new findings about methane in the Martian atmosphere. (For those joining us already in progress, the short version is that the amount of methane in the atmosphere of Mars periodically jumps, and nobody's sure why.)

Well, a couple of researchers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston were going over images of the Martian surface and noticed some odd-looking mounds on the northern lowlands of Mars. They look like "mud volcanoes" on Earth. Moreover, when viewed in infrared light, the mounds cool off at night as if they're sediment, not rock.

Terrestrial mud volcanoes emit large amounts of methane gas. Are the Martian mounds the source of the mysterious methane spikes? And if they are mud volcanoes, that means liquid water, the Holy Grail of astrobiology research. Are there microorganisms deep under the Martian surface? Maybe someone should go check.

Comments

[Brian Rogers]

But that would cost money better served to do (insert name of your pet project or cause here). Besides, space research has never given us any breakthroughs in technology or science!