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Regardless of their source, any methane molecules in Mars's atmosphere would, on the basis of experiments on Earth, be expected to hang around for centuries.
不論它從何而來，根據(jù)地球的實驗，火星大氣中的任何甲烷分子將有望徘徊幾個世紀。
It was to find signs of this more widespread material that a spectroscopic instrument called NOMAD (Nadir and Occultation for MArs Discovery),
正是為了發(fā)現(xiàn)更多關(guān)于這種普遍材料的跡象，一種搭載在ExoMars微量氣體探測軌道飛行器上的
which is on board ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, was designed. And, as Ann Carine Vandaele of the Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy told the AGU,
光譜儀器NOMAD被設(shè)計了出來。并且正如比利時航天航空研究所的安·卡林·凡達勒所告訴AGU的，
NOMAD has failed to find the slightest hint of methane in the Martian atmosphere.
NOMAD并沒有在火星大氣中發(fā)現(xiàn)甲烷的任何最細微的線索。
Since NOMAD is 20 times more sensitive than the methane detector on board Curiosity, this is bad news.
由于NOMAD的敏感度是好奇號上所搭載的甲烷探測器得20多倍，因此這是個壞消息。
The findings are still under review, pending publication in a journal, and are therefore preliminary.
在結(jié)果發(fā)表于雜志期間，這些發(fā)現(xiàn)仍在審查之中，因此這些結(jié)果還在初級階段。
But they do not surprise Kevin Zahnle of the Ames Research Centre, in California, a laboratory belonging to NASA, America's space agency.
但對于從屬于美國太空署NASA的加利福尼亞艾姆斯研究中心的凱文·扎恩勒來說，這些結(jié)果并不驚訝。
Dr Zahnle has long argued that Curiosity's reports of Martian methane are artefacts.
扎恩勒博士長期以來都在爭論稱好奇號關(guān)于火星甲烷的報道是假象。
They are only marginally higher than control readings,
它們不過是在邊緣函數(shù)上比控制讀數(shù)稍高，
and those readings indicate the rover itself may be a source of methane (though nobody knows how),
并且那些讀數(shù)表明探測車本身或許就是甲烷的一種來源（雖然沒人知道其原理），
which further complicates taking accurate readings.
這進一步將獲取正確讀數(shù)復雜化。
The optimists will not be deflected, though. They note that NOMAD can probe only the upper part of Mars's atmosphere.
雖然樂觀派不會因此停止腳步。他們注意到NOMAD僅能探測火星大氣的上層部分。
Air with an altitude of less than 5km is beyond its range.
海拔不足5千米的大氣不在其探測范圍內(nèi)。
Moreover, when ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter flew over Gale, a dust storm obscured NOMAD's view of anything within 30km of the surface.
此外，當ExoMars微量氣體探測軌道飛行器飛過蓋爾山時，一場塵暴遮蓋住了NOMAD 30千米范圍內(nèi)的視角。
Such optimists thus argue that the idea of methane seeping from the crater cannot be discounted.
因此這些樂觀主義者爭辯稱甲烷從火山口噴射出的這種想法是沒有市場的。
What NOMAD does seem to show is that, if methane exists at all in Mars's air, it is rare and confined to low levels of the atmosphere.
NOMAD似乎確實為我們展現(xiàn)了，如果甲烷存在于火星大氣之中，那么它很稀少，并且限于大氣的低層中。
But for now, neither side is willing to give way.
但目前，兩邊都不愿讓步。
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