{"id":293,"date":"2019-04-29T08:23:41","date_gmt":"2019-04-29T06:23:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/esa_satellite_tracks_down_methane_on_mars\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T00:26:30","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T22:26:30","slug":"esa_satellite_tracks_down_methane_on_mars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/fr\/esa_satellite_tracks_down_methane_on_mars\/","title":{"rendered":"Un satellite de l\u2019ESA \u00e0 la recherche de m\u00e9thane sur Mars"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"lede\">\n<p>Le 15 juin 2013, le rover Curiosity de la NASA explorait la surface martienne quand ses capteurs ont d\u00e9tect\u00e9 quelque chose qui a retenu l\u2019attention de la communaut\u00e9 scientifique sur Terre: un gaz appel\u00e9 m\u00e9thane. Notre plan\u00e8te comporte de grandes quantit\u00e9s de m\u00e9thane, qui peut \u00eatre cr\u00e9\u00e9 de mani\u00e8re g\u00e9ologique ou par des \u00eatres vivants.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>D\u2019un point de vue scientifique, plus de donn\u00e9es vous collectez, plus vos recherches ont le potentiel d\u2019\u00eatre pr\u00e9cises. Un groupe de scientifiques a \u00e9tudi\u00e9 les donn\u00e9es collect\u00e9es par le satellite Mars Express de l'ESA, en orbite autour de Mars au m\u00eame moment. Il s\u2019av\u00e8re que, tout comme Curiosity, Mars Express a \u00e9galement d\u00e9tect\u00e9 du m\u00e9thane !\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Quelle est la source du m\u00e9thane sur Mars ? Le m\u00e9thane est d\u00e9truit tr\u00e8s rapidement apr\u00e8s avoir \u00e9t\u00e9 expos\u00e9 \u00e0 la fine atmosph\u00e8re martienne, ce qui signifie que le gaz d\u00e9tect\u00e9 par Curiosity et Mars Express a \u00e9t\u00e9 cr\u00e9\u00e9 ou diffus\u00e9 tr\u00e8s r\u00e9cemment. Deux th\u00e9ories ont actuellement la faveur des scientifiques : la premi\u00e8re est que ce gaz aurait \u00e9t\u00e9 produit il y a des millions ou des milliards d\u2019ann\u00e9es. Pi\u00e9g\u00e9 sous terre pendant tout ce temps, il aurait fini par atteindre la surface avant d\u2019\u00eatre d\u00e9tect\u00e9 par nos deux explorateurs robotiques.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" data-width=\"5333\" data-credit=\"ESA\" data-detail-url=\"https:\/\/www.esa.int\/ESA_Multimedia\/Images\/2018\/04\/Comparing_the_atmospheres_of_Mars_and_Earth\" data-licence=\"ESA Standard Licence\" data-licence-url=\"https:\/\/www.esa.int\/ESA_Multimedia\/Terms_and_conditions_of_use_of_images_and_videos_available_on_the_esa_website\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"max-width:100%;height:auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.esa.int\/var\/esa\/storage\/images\/esa_multimedia\/images\/2018\/04\/comparing_the_atmospheres_of_mars_and_earth\/17444033-1-eng-GB\/Comparing_the_atmospheres_of_Mars_and_Earth.jpg\" alt=\"Comparing the atmospheres of Mars and Earth\"><figcaption>Comparaison des atmosph\u00e8res de Mars et de la Terre<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Selon la deuxi\u00e8me th\u00e9orie, ce gaz aurait \u00e9t\u00e9 g\u00e9n\u00e9r\u00e9 par de minuscules formes de vie dont le m\u00e9thane serait un produit r\u00e9siduaire. Cette possibilit\u00e9 est tr\u00e8s excitante, mais nous devons collecter davantage d\u2019informations avant de parvenir \u00e0 cette conclusion.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Les scientifiques favorisent actuellement des explications g\u00e9ologiques plut\u00f4t que biologiques. Le gaz m\u00e9thane pourrait \u00eatre cr\u00e9\u00e9 \u00e0 partir des roches martiennes, en petites quantit\u00e9s \u00e0 chaque fois. Mars poss\u00e8de par ailleurs de fortes concentrations de glace susceptibles de pi\u00e9ger du gaz. \u00c0 la fonte ou \u00e0 la fracture des glaces, le gaz s\u2019\u00e9chappe dans l\u2019atmosph\u00e8re.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" data-width=\"3638\" data-credit=\"ESA\" data-detail-url=\"https:\/\/www.esa.int\/ESA_Multimedia\/Images\/2019\/04\/How_to_create_and_destroy_methane_at_Mars\" data-licence=\"ESA Standard Licence\" data-licence-url=\"https:\/\/www.esa.int\/ESA_Multimedia\/Terms_and_conditions_of_use_of_images_and_videos_available_on_the_esa_website\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"max-width:100%;height:auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.esa.int\/var\/esa\/storage\/images\/esa_multimedia\/images\/2019\/04\/how_to_create_and_destroy_methane_at_mars\/19329127-1-eng-GB\/How_to_create_and_destroy_methane_at_Mars.jpg\" alt=\"How to create and destroy methane at Mars\"><figcaption>Comment cr\u00e9er et d\u00e9truire du m\u00e9thane sur Mars<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Lors de la prochaine \u00e9tape de ce projet de recherche, les scientifiques vont analyser des donn\u00e9es additionnelles de Mars Express afin de chercher d\u2019autres instances o\u00f9 du m\u00e9thane pourrait avoir \u00e9t\u00e9 d\u00e9tect\u00e9. La sonde TGO d\u2019ExoMars, une mission conjointe de l\u2019ESA et de Roscosmos, \u00e9volue actuellement autour de Mars. Qui sait les d\u00e9couvertes qu\u2019elle pourrait faire !<\/p>\n<p><i>Fait int\u00e9ressant : Mars Express a \u00e9t\u00e9 lanc\u00e9 en 2003 et a mis six mois pour atteindre Mars. Il est toujours en service aujourd\u2019hui, tant d\u2019ann\u00e9es plus tard, et nous aide \u00e0 mieux comprendre la Plan\u00e8te Rouge.<\/i><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Back on 15 June 2013, NASA\u2019s Curiosity rover was busy exploring the surface of Mars. Its sensors detected something that made its operators back on Earth very excited: a gas [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"esa_banner_image":"https:\/\/www.esa.int\/var\/esa\/storage\/images\/esa_multimedia\/images\/2018\/04\/mars_express\/17447281-1-eng-GB\/Mars_Express.jpg","esa_banner_description":"Mars Express","esa_banner_credit":"Spacecraft image credit: ESA\/ATG medialab; Mars: ESA\/DLR\/FU Berlin","esa_banner_licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO or ESA Standard Licence","esa_banner_detail_url":"https:\/\/www.esa.int\/ESA_Multimedia\/Images\/2018\/04\/Mars_Express","esa_external_url":"","esa_external_new_window":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":true},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"panel":[],"language":[],"age":[],"duration":[],"resource_type":[],"audience":[],"wf_post_folders":[],"class_list":["post-293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4392,"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293\/revisions\/4392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293"},{"taxonomy":"panel","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/panel?post=293"},{"taxonomy":"language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/language?post=293"},{"taxonomy":"age","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/age?post=293"},{"taxonomy":"duration","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/duration?post=293"},{"taxonomy":"resource_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resource_type?post=293"},{"taxonomy":"audience","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/audience?post=293"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}