Low Upper Limit to Methane Abundance on Mars
Christopher R. Webster(Jet Propulsion Laboratory), P. R. Mahaffy(Goddard Space Flight Center), Sushil K. Atreya(University of Michigan), Gregory J. Flesch(Jet Propulsion Laboratory), Kenneth A. Farley(California Institute of Technology), MSL Science Team, Osku Kemppinen, Nathan Bridges, J. R. Johnson, M. E. Minitti, David A. Cremers, J. F. Bell, Lauren Edgar, Jack D. Farmer, Austin Godber, M. Wadhwa, Danika Wellington, Ian McEwan, Claire Newman, M. I. Richardson, Antoine Charpentier, Laurent Péret, P. L. King, Jennifer G. Blank, Gerald Weigle, M. E. Schmidt, Shuai Li, R. E. Milliken, Kevin M. Robertson, V. Z. Sun, Michael B. Baker(Jet Propulsion Laboratory), Christopher Edwards, Bethany Ehlmann(California Institute of Technology), Kenneth Farley(California Institute of Technology), Jennifer Griffes, J. P. Grotzinger, Hayden Miller, Megan Newcombe, C. Pilorget, M. S. Rice, K. L. Siebach, Katie Stack, Edward M. Stolper, C. Brunet, Victoria Hipkin, Richard Léveillé, Geneviève Marchand, Pablo Sobrón Sánchez, Laurent Favot, George D. Cody, A. Steele, Lorenzo Flückiger, David Lees, Ara Nefian, Mildred Martin, M. Gailhanou, Francès Westall, Guy Israël(Jet Propulsion Laboratory), Christophe Agard, Julien Baroukh(Jet Propulsion Laboratory), Christophe Donny, Alain Gaboriaud, Philippe Guillemot, Vivian Lafaille, Éric Lorigny, Alexis Paillet, R. Pérez, M. Saccoccio, Charles Yana, Carlos Armiens‐Aparicio, Javier Caride Rodríguez, Isaías Carrasco Blázquez, Felipe Gómez, Javier Gómez Elvira, Sebastian Hettrich, Alain Lepinette Malvitte, Mercedes Marín Jiménez, Jesús Martínez‐Frías, Javier Martín Soler, Javier Martín‐Torres, Antonio Molina Jurado, Luis Mora‐Sotomayor, G. M. Muñoz, Sara Navarro López, Verónica Peinado-González, Jorge Pla-García, J. A. Rodríguez‐Manfredi, Julio José Romeral-Planelló, Sara Alejandra Sans Fuentes, Eduardo Sebastian Martinez, Josefina Torres Redondo, Roser Urqui-O'Callaghan, María-Paz Zorzano Mier, Steve Chipera, Jean-Luc Lacour, Patrick Mauchien, Jean‐Baptiste Sirven, H. L. K. Manning, Alberto González Fairén, Alexander Hayes, Jonathan Joseph, S. W. Squyres, R. Sullivan, P. C. Thomas, Audrey Dupont, Angela Lundberg, Noureddine Melikechi, Alissa Mezzacappa, Julia DeMarines, David Grinspoon, Günther Reitz, Benito Prats, Evgeny Atlaskin, M. Genzer, Ari‐Matti Harri, Harri Haukka, Henrik Kahanpää, Janne Kauhanen, Osku Kemppinen, Mark Paton, Jouni Polkko, Walter Schmidt, Tero Siili(GeoRessources), C. Fabre, J. J. Wray, Mary Beth Wilhelm, Franck Poitrasson, Kiran Patel, Stephen Gorevan, Stephen Indyk, G. Paulsen, Sanjeev Gupta, D. L. Bish, Jüergen Schieber, Brigitte Gondet, Yves Langevin, Claude Geffroy, David Baratoux, Gilles Berger, Alain Cros, C. d’Uston, Olivier Forni, O. Gasnault, J. Lasue, Qiu-Mei Lee, S. Maurice, Pierre‐Yves Meslin, E. Pallier, Yann Parot, Patrick Pinet, Susanne Schröder, M. J. Toplis, Éric Lewin, W. Brunner, Ezat Heydari, Cherie Achilles, Dorothy Z. Oehler, B. Sutter, M. Cabane, David Coscia, Guy Israël, Cyril Szopa, Gilles Dromart, François Robert, Violaine Sautter, Stéphane Le Mouëlic, N. Mangold, Marion Nachon, A. Buch, Fabien Stalport, Patrice Coll, Pascaline François, F. Raulin, Samuel Teinturier, James F. Cameron, Sam Clegg, A. Cousin, Dorothea DeLapp, Robert Dingler, Ryan Steele Jackson, Stephen Johnstone, N. Lanza, Cynthia Little, Tony Nelson, R. C. Wiens, Richard B. Williams, Andrea Jones, L. E. Kirkland, A. H. Treiman, Burt Baker, Bruce Cantor, M. A. Caplinger, Scott Davis, Brian Duston(California Institute of Technology), Kenneth Edgett, Donald Fay, C. Hardgrove, D. E. Harker(Goddard Space Flight Center), Paul Herrera, Elsa Jensen, M. R. Kennedy, Gillian M. Krezoski, Daniel Krysak, Leslie Lipkaman, Michael Malin, Elaina McCartney, Sean McNair, Brian Nixon, Liliya Posiolova, M. A. Ravine, Andrew Salamon, Lee Saper, Kevin Stoiber, Kimberley Supulver, Jason Van Beek, Tessa Van Beek, Robert Zimdar, Katherine L. French, Karl Iagnemma, Kristen Miller, Roger Summons, Fred Goesmann, W. Goetz, S. F. Hviid, Micah Johnson, Matthew Lefavor, Eric Lyness, Elly Breves, M. D. Dyar, C. I. Fassett, David F. Blake, T. F. Bristow, David J. DesMarais, Laurence Edwards, R. M. Haberle, Tori M. Hoehler, Jeff Hollingsworth, Melinda Kahre, Leslie Keely(Jet Propulsion Laboratory), Christopher P. McKay, Mary Beth Wilhelm, Lora Bleacher, W. B. Brinckerhoff, David S. Choi, P. G. Conrad, Jason P. Dworkin, Jennifer Eigenbrode, Melissa Floyd, Caroline Freissinet, J. B. Garvin, D. P. Glavin, Daniel Harpold, Andrea Jones(Goddard Space Flight Center), P. Mahaffy(Goddard Space Flight Center), David K. Martin, A. C. McAdam, Alexander A. Pavlov, E. Raaen, M. D. Smith, J. C. Stern, Florence Tan, M. G. Trainer, Michael A. Meÿer, Arik Posner, Mary A. Voytek, Robert C. Anderson, A. D. Aubrey, L. W. Beegle, A. Behar, D. L. Blaney, D. E. Brinza, Fred Calef, L. E. Christensen, J. A. Crisp, Lauren DeFlores, Bethany Ehlmann, Jason Feldman, Sabrina Feldman(Jet Propulsion Laboratory), Gregory J. Flesch(Jet Propulsion Laboratory), J. A. Hurowitz, I. Jun, Didier Keymeulen, Justin Maki, Michael Mischna, John Michael Morookian, T. J. Parker, Betina Pavri, Marcel Schoppers, Aaron Sengstacken, John J. Simmonds, N. Spanovich, Manuel de la Torre Juárez, A. R. Vasavada(Jet Propulsion Laboratory), Christopher R. Webster(Jet Propulsion Laboratory), A. S. Yen, P. D. Archer, Francis A. Cucinotta, J. H. Jones, D. W. Ming, R. V. Morris(Goddard Space Flight Center), P. B. Niles, Elizabeth Rampe, Thomas Nolan, M. R. Fisk, Leon J. Radziemski, B. L. Barraclough, Steve Bender, D. C. Berman, Eldar Noe Dobrea, R. L. Tokar, D. T. Vaniman, R. M. E. Williams, Aileen Yingst, K. W. Lewis, L. A. Leshin, T. Cleghorn, Wesley T. Huntress, Gérard Manhès, Judy Hudgins, T. Olson, Noel Stewart, Philippe Sarrazin, J. A. Grant, Edward P. Vicenzi, Sharon A. Wilson, M. A. Bullock, Bent Ehresmann, V. E. Hamilton, Donald M. Hassler, Joseph G. Peterson, Scot Rafkin, Cary Zeitlin, F. Fedosov, D. V. Golovin, Natalya Karpushkina, Alexander Kozyrev, M. L. Litvak, A. Malakhov, И. Г. Митрофанов, Maxim Mokrousov, Sergey Nikiforov, В. А. Прохоров, Anton Sanin, V. I. Tretyakov, A. Varenikov, Andrey Vostrukhin, Ruslan Kuzmin, Benton Clark, M. J. Wolff, S. M. McLennan, Oliver Botta, Darrell Drake, Keri Bean, M. T. Lemmon, S. P. Schwenzer, R. B. Anderson(California Institute of Technology), K. E. Herkenhoff, Ella Mae Lee, Robert Sucharski, Miguel Ángel de Pablo Hernández, J. J. Blanco, Miguel Ramos, Myung-Hee Kim, Charles Malespin, Ianik Plante, Jan‐Peter Müller, R. Navarro‐González, R. C. Ewing, W. V. Boynton, Robert Downs, Mike Fitzgibbon, K. Harshman, Shaunna M. Morrison, William Dietrich, Onno Kortmann, M. C. Palucis, D. Y. Sumner, Amy J. Williams, G. W. Lugmair, Michael A. Wilson, David M. Rubin, B. M. Jakosky, T. Balić-Žunić, J. Frydenvang, Jaqueline Kløvgaard Jensen, K. M. Kinch, Asmus Koefoed, M. B. Madsen, S. L. S. Stipp, Nick Boyd, John L. Campbell, R. Gellert, G. M. Perrett, Irina Pradler, Scott VanBommel, Samantha Jacob, Tobias Owen, Scott K. Rowland, Evgeny Atlaskin, Hannu Savijärvi, Eckart Boehm, S. Böttcher, S. Burmeister, Jingnan Guo, Jan Köhler, César Martín García, R. Mueller‐Mellin, R. F. Wimmer‐Schweingruber, John C. Bridges, Timothy McConnochie, M. Benna, H. B. Franz, Hannah Bower, Anna Brunner, Hannah Blau, Thomas Boucher, Marco Carmosino(University of Michigan), Sushil Atreya(University of Michigan), Harvey Elliott, Douglas Halleaux, N. O. Rennó, Michael H. Wong, Robert O. Pepin, Beverley Elliott, John Spray, L. M. Thompson, Suzanne Gordon, H. E. Newsom, A. Ollila, Joshua Williams, Paulo Vasconcelos, Jennifer Bentz(California Institute of Technology), Kenneth H. Nealson, Radu Popa, Linda C. Kah, J. Moersch(Jet Propulsion Laboratory), Christopher Tate, Mackenzie Day, Gary Kocurek, B. Hallet, R. S. Sletten, Raymond Francis, Emily McCullough, Ed Cloutis, I. L. ten Kate, Ruslan Kuzmin, R. E. Arvidson, A. A. Fraeman, Daniel Scholes, S. Slavney, Thomas Stein, Jennifer Ward, Jeffrey Berger, John E. Moores
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Abstract
By analogy with Earth, methane in the Martian atmosphere is a potential signature of ongoing or past biological activity. During the past decade, Earth-based telescopic observations reported "plumes" of methane of tens of parts per billion by volume (ppbv), and those from Mars orbit showed localized patches, prompting speculation of sources from subsurface bacteria or nonbiological sources. From in situ measurements made with the Tunable Laser Spectrometer (TLS) on Curiosity using a distinctive spectral pattern specific to methane, we report no detection of atmospheric methane with a measured value of 0.18 ± 0.67 ppbv corresponding to an upper limit of only 1.3 ppbv (95% confidence level), which reduces the probability of current methanogenic microbial activity on Mars and limits the recent contribution from extraplanetary and geologic sources.
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