Scientists uncover potential source of methane on Mars

Gas detected by Curiosity rover may have been released from fractured Martian permafrost

A waft of methane detected by Nasa's Curiosity rover on Mars may have been released from a layer of permafrost containing bubbles of the gas that was fractured by a geological event, researchers have said.

It is the first time scientists have identified a potential source of methane on Mars, though the scientific community is still divided on whether the gas is really produced on the planet at all. Some says the methane detections on Mars are spurious or have come from other sources such as the rover itself.