article_snippet: Even low levels of methane on a planet could indicate that there is life there breaking down organic material.
article_snippet: Metabolic byproducts of life include characteristic gases like methane, which on Mars would be a very low concentrations.'
article_snippet: However, Nasa hopes that by using the PAMSS Nasa may be able to detect small amounts of methane on other worlds like Mars, Jupiter's moon Europa and Saturn's moon Enceladus.
article_snippet: Low levels of methane have already been detected on Mars with hot spots where levels are thought to spike.