Life on Mars and cooperation in space

The first space mission that was born with the help of two space agencies, the European Space Agency and Roscosmos, the Russian Space Agency, travels with the promise of revealing some of the Red Planet’s secrets.

The satellite Trace Gas Orbiter, that was launched on March 14th, will try to detect the presence of methane on Mars’ atmosphere, as it has been pointed through research right here, on Earth. The recurrent production of methane of the planet made the scientists curious, once it is a very short-lived component. So, there are two possibilities: the gas is either being formed by chemical processes, with the oxidation of metals, for example, or through biological processes coming from the digestion of food ( yes, methane is exactly what you thought). As you should imagine, the second one implies the existence of life on Mars.

Orbiting the planet at an altitude of 400 kilometers, Trace Gas Orbiter will be able to detect -- guess what -- trace gases , or gases that are present in very small concentration. Examples of these are methane itself, water vapour, nitrogen oxide, etc.
The satellite will be able to create extremely refined models of the martian atmosphere, in addition to tell the planet’s composition, temperature and keep on looking for water.

Credits:

http://exploration.esa.int/mars/46475-trace-gas-orbiter/