Since landing at Gale Crater on Mars in 2012, Curiosity has detected methane emissions on Mars six times, but scientists haven't been able to find a source.

By 2021, researchers from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) were able to determine the location of the emission of methane on the surface of Mars, a gas that is often produced by microbes.

The researchers believe that NASA's Curiosity probe is very close to this source, according to a recent report by Live Science.

Choosing a Curiosity landing site next to the methane emitting site was purely coincidental (NASA)

miles from the source of methane

On the 3rd of last June, Research Square published a study showing that researchers from Caltech modeled methane gas molecules by splitting them into separate bundles, taking into account the wind speed and direction at the time of their discovery.

The team then traced the path of methane beams at all detected altitudes to reach potential emission points.

The researchers thus identified the source of the methane within a few dozen miles of the spacecraft.

"The results indicate an active emission region located to the west and southwest of the Curiosity Rover on the northwest crater floor," the researchers wrote in their paper.

"Of course, our choice of a Curiosity landing site next to an active methane emitting site was purely coincidental," they added.

The discovery of methane on Mars is only a sign of life on that planet (NASA)

Proof of life

The possibility of the presence of methane gas on Mars has always aroused the curiosity of researchers about proving the fact of its existence first in parallel with the possibility of determining the location of its emission second.

This interest is attributed to the fact that the presence of methane is often associated with a form of life, and just as the source of methane in the Earth's atmosphere has biological origins, researchers believe that the discovery of methane on Mars is only a major sign of life on that apparently desolate planet.

And if biological activity is not a source of methane on Mars, this may indicate a geological activity closely related to the presence of liquid water, which in turn is a vital component for the flourishing of life there.

Although we still don't know if methane was emitted by primitive life forms on Mars, the detectable lifespan of methane is only 330 years, after which it is completely destroyed by exposure to sunlight.

This means that whatever produces methane must continue to this day, which necessitates all interested research institutions to work to discover what this thing is.

Curiosity detected methane using a synthesized laser spectrometer (NASA)

Atmosphere of Mars

Previous attempts to check Curiosity's methane bands have failed to compare with atmospheric methane levels detected by the European Space Agency's Tracking Gas Orbiter (TGO) vehicle.

This difference can be explained by one of two things, either that there is methane in the Martian atmosphere and TGO somehow couldn't catch all of those beams, or that there is no methane in the atmosphere on Mars and Curiosity is parked above a source Sweetened.

Curiosity detected methane using a Tunable Laser Spectrometer, which can detect trace amounts of the gas at less than half a part per billion. The methane surges that led the team to the potential source were detected at a level of up to 10 parts per billion.