Mars, Methane, Methanogenesis: Evidence of Life and Death on the Red Planet

Investigations with the rover Curiosity and the Planetary Fourier Spectrometer on the ESA's Mars Express observatories, have demonstrated the presence of methane in the atmosphere of Mars that varies in concentration depending on location and season (Mumma et al. 2004, 2009; Hand, 2009, Webster et al. 2015). For example, between 2013 and early 2014 methane levels surged from an average background level of about 0.7 parts per billion all the way up to 7 parts per billion, only to eventually decline (Webster et al. 2015). Since methane is biologically produced by archae and fungi, and as a consequence of the death and decay of various organisms (Lenhart, et al. 2012; Liu et al 2015), and given the now substantial evidence of living fungi and bacteria on the Red Planet (Joseph 2016, 2017; Joseph & Rabb, 2016; Levin 1976), the likelihood is that these and other Martian organisms are responsible for these fluctuations in the levels of methane in the atmosphere of Mars.