The Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IKI RAS) announces that the participants of the ExoMarsa-2016 project have published the first results of the analysis of data from the instruments of the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) orbiter.
Recall that ExoMars is a joint project of Roscosmos and the European Space Agency, implemented in two stages. At the first stage, in 2016, the TGO orbital module and the Schiaparelli lander went to the Red Planet. The first successfully collects scientific information, and the second, alas, crashed.
On board TGO are the Russian ACS complex and the Belgian NOMAD device, operating in the infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum. These spectrometers are designed to detect small components of the atmosphere - gases, the concentration of which does not exceed a few particles per billion or even trillion, as well as dust and aerosols.
One of the main goals of the TGO mission is to detect methane, which may indicate life on Mars, or at least current volcanic activity. In the atmosphere of the Red Planet, methane molecules, if they appear, should be destroyed under the action of solar ultraviolet radiation in two to three centuries. Therefore, the registration of methane molecules could indicate recent activity (biological or volcanic) on the planet.
Unfortunately, it has not yet been possible to detect methane in the Martian atmosphere. “The ACS spectrometers, as well as the spectrometers of the European NOMAD complex, did not detect methane on Mars during measurements from April to August 2018. Observations were carried out in the solar eclipse mode at all latitudes, ”the IKI RAS publication says.
However, this does not mean that there is no methane in the atmosphere of the Red Planet at all. The data obtained set an upper limit for its concentration: there can be no more than 50 parts per trillion of methane in the Martian atmosphere. More information about the study can be found here.
Source: 3dnews.ru