In this image captured by the Hubble Space Telescope on October 28, a storm can be clearly seen sweeping across the red planet: the illuminated red area
This is the result of research conducted by American scientist Vladimir Krasnopolsky, who has been searching for another gas present in the atmosphere of the “red planet” that is emitted in large quantities by volcanoes on Earth: sulfur dioxide (SO2).
Since one of the instruments aboard the European Mars Express spacecraft detected methane in the Martian atmosphere, scientists have been striving to determine the origin of this gas.
Methane on Earth is primarily produced by living organisms, which has piqued the curiosity of researchers. Another possible source of methane could be geological, possibly resulting from volcanic activity. The remaining task is to locate these volcanoes.
Scientist Krasnopolsky from Catholic University in Washington has studied the presence of SO2 to uncover volcanic emissions. Measurements conducted using one of the telescopes in Hawaii did not find any traces of SO2.
However, it is still too early to conclude that the methane on Mars has a biological origin. Future measurements from the Planetary Fourier Spectrometer (PFS) aboard Mars Express, which previously detected methane in 2004, will allow for the confirmation of these studies.