For days now news has been making the rounds regarding mysterious methane emissions reported in the atmosphere above Earth’s neighboring Red Planet. Here at the Gralien Report, there has been so much going on with interest to other subjects that I haven’t had time to report on this peculiar instance of a possible “beacon” in the form of natural gases being released into the atmosphere of Mars. This discovery, with its curious implications, screams the question “biological, or geological?”

But in short, (and needless to say) for those of you who haven’t followed news about the aforementioned, at present there is valid speculation that life may indeed exist on Mars.

The news comes via NASA, who announced Thursday that the methane plumes had been spotted using powerful NASA telescopes, and that their cause is currently a mystery. Though Mars had previously been discounted as a candidate for volcanic activity, such stirrings below the terrain of the Red Planet could indeed produce the phenomenon. Also, geological processes like the presence of iron deposits in mid-oxidation could also create the effects witnessed. One thing is for certain, however: whatever has caused the emissions must be an ongoing, consistent process, since methane would be quickly destroyed in the Martian atmosphere. This being the case, in order for the continued presence of the methane emissions as described by NASA, something exists, presently unknown to us, which is creating them right now, as you read this.

The final possibility, as well as the one for which most of us remain the most hopeful, is that decomposition resulting from the presence of living organisms someplace on Mars could be the culprit. In order to confirm this, scientists are now considering where the presumed organisms may exist; likely beneath the permafrost in the outer layers of Martian soil. Ideally, a new unmanned mission with the inclusion of a drilling probe is in order, which would implement hardware capable of extending down to where water or rock samples might be obtained, which may of course contain our mystery-Martians.

However, as one might anticipate of our Martian brethren, it isn’t expected that much in the way of complex organisms will be turned up by such drilling. If anything, what we may find would have to be more similar to possible fossil remains of microorganisms observed in samples from existing meteors believed to have arrived here from Mars. The most famous, affectionately dubbed the ALH84001 meteorite, was discovered a quarter-century ago in Antarctica. The meteorite is believed to have been ejected from Mars about 17 million years ago and, and much like the aliens from John Carpenter’s 1980s remake of the sci-fi classic The Thing, spent close to 11,000 years encased within Antarctic ice sheets.

Unlike many on-screen portrayals of the discovery of alien life however, what led to the theories surrounding microorganisms in ALH84001 was far less exciting. NASA tests curiously revealed a form of magnetite, only found in the presence of certain minute microorganisms as observed here on Earth, to be prolific throughout the meteorite. Later, further analysis would indicate that “structures” which resembled fossilized bacteria consistent in size and shape with controversial “nanobacteria” believed to exist here on Earth. In addition to ALH840011, two other Martian samples exist; The Nakhla meteorite, recovered on June 28, 1911 near Nakhla, Alexandria, Egypt, as well as the Shergotty meteorite, which fell to Earth on August 25, 1865 in India, where it was promptly collected by locals. Features in each of the three samples suggest remnants of biofilm and their associated microbial communities, though such consistencies with known life forms here on Earth are far from conclusive.

So if indeed life is discovered on Mars, perhaps within the next decade, what new things can we expect to be able to discern regarding conditions where life is capable of surviving? Furthermore, how will this pertain to further discovery of life forms, and even intelligent beings, elsewhere in the cosmos? Only time will tell… but for those of us with inquiring minds who must wait, our meandering imaginations will (yet again) have to suffice for the time being.