Does Mars Stink? That was my first thought when I read that scientists have discovered Mars expelling methane. There may be a chemical explanation, or a biological explanation that includes organisms that expel methane.
WE don’t know whether methane is good or bad for Mars. Methane is bad for us. It is a major factor in the creation of climate change.
I’m wrong about methane. It doesn’t stink; it is an odorless gas. Cows don’t fart a lot of methane. That’s a misunderstanding. Cow burps do it. Cows burp a lot, but don’t create as much methane as people do.
People drilling for oil and natural gas create methane as a by-product. Supermarket bags and the like, when left in the sun or in a salt water ocean give off methane. The planet’s warming cycle is another source of methane. The Arctic ice and tundra melting creates further expulsion of methane – which then contributes to warming.
Mars does not stink. Nor does it expel nearly as much methane as we do on earth. We can’t fault the cows. “The fault … is not in our stars, but in ourselves.”