Curiosity Finds Mysterious Oxygen Fluctuations on Mars

NASA ’s Curiosity rover whiff out an unexpected seasonal edition to the oxygen on Mars , according to new research .

wonder has long been returning some appropriately curious results . After turn up methane on the major planet , studies from its berth in Gale volcanic crater find regular change to the methane unexplainable by the environmental constituent that scientists are already mindful of . Now varying oxygen has unite methane in the Martian enigma bucket .

Oxygen has shown “ significant seasonal and interannual variability , suggesting an unknown atmospherical or surface process at work , ” the writer compose inthe paperpublished today in the Journal of Geophysical Research .

Gale crater, as imaged by the Curiosity rover.

Gale crater, as imaged by the Curiosity rover.Photo: NASA

Mars , like Earth , is wobble on its axis of revolution . That means its northerly and southern hemispheres experience seasons like Earth does , summertime when the cerebral hemisphere luff toward the Sun and winter when it point away from the Sun . Scientists have been using Curiosity ’s Sample Analysis at Mars ( SAM ) pawn to monitor the abundance of various molecules in the major planet ’s atmosphere and how they interchange with its seasons . Today , they let go of the consequence of five Earth years ’ ( three Mars years ’ ) worth of data taking .

The solvent for some chemical element were n’t especially surprising : levels and changes to the amount of argon gas were broadly similar to measurements taken by the now - defunct chance roamer . Nor did Curiosity mensurate much nitrogen flow — on Earth , life interact with the atmosphere and the land through a complex N cycle . If such a cycle exists on Mars , it does n’t have an impact on the planet ’s atmospheric natural gas , the author write .

But then … there ’s the oxygen . “ The SAM measurements of [ oxygen ] in Gale crater do not show the yearly stability or seasonal pattern that would be predicted base on the fuck sources and sinks in the atmosphere , ” the source wrote . There was a whole lot more O than expected during the Martian northern hemisphere ’s late leaping to summer ( Curiosity ’s late dip to winter ) , and a pot less oxygen than anticipate during the northern hemisphere ’s wintertime ( Curiosity ’s summer ) .

Argentina’s President Javier Milei (left) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., holding a chainsaw in a photo posted to Kennedy’s X account on May 27. 2025.

Scientists hear to forge an explanation for this . possibly the instrument was bust ( it was n’t ) , or peradventure the atomic number 8 was from carbon copy dioxide or water break up in the air . But that would mean there ’s much more water supply than the planet already has in its standard pressure , or C dioxide disclose up too lento to produce the oxygen signatures , consort to aNASA release .

“ The fact that the atomic number 8 demeanor is n’t perfectly quotable every time of year attain us think that it ’s not an issue that has to do with atmospheric dynamic . It has to be some chemical substance source and cesspit that we ca n’t yet report for , ” the study ’s first writer Melissa Trainer , a planetary scientist at NASA ’s Goddard Space Flight Center , read in the release .

Perhaps the fluctuating O has something to do with the fluctuating methane . Who know ! Trainer hopes other scientist will aid figure out the mystery .

William Duplessie