York University|Université York

Purpose

Methane has been observed in the Martian atmosphere for nearly two decades, yet key questions about the Martian methane cycle remain unanswered. On the Earth, most methane produced is biological and it is therefore a key question of the astrobiology community as to whether the Martian source, likely located deep underground, is similar. The Martian Atmospheric Gas Evolution (MAGE) experiment will develop the science readiness level (SRL) of a potential contribution to a future landed space mission on Mars to measure the evolution of methane near the surface. It will help us to understand what is producing this gas in the present day and whether that source is biological or geological in origin. MAGE in based on technology called Integrated Cavity-Enhanced Optical Spectroscopy (ICOS), a sensitive technique that can measure methane at very low concentrations and offers the possibility of making unprecedentedly frequent measurements at sensitivities comparable to the best current techniques.