Mars Exploration Must Consider Contamination

letxa2000 writes: "CNN is reporting that the National Research Council has submitted a report to NASA that recommends certain precautions be taken if NASA is to send astronauts to Mars to guarantee that they don't bring back Mars-based bacteria and contaminate earth; including possibly banning the return vehicle from entering the Earth's atmosphere. What is the likelihood of bacterial life on Mars infecting the earth if we ever get around to visiting Mars in person?"

Comments

And the other way around?

[ixt]

Shouldn't we be more worried about the other way around first - the contamination of Mars by some Earthly micro-organism?

manned exploration of mars is premature

[j09824]

There is no reason to go through the enormous expense of sending humans to mars for now. It would be much cheaper and safer to send more robotic probes. Robotic probes can also be sterilized much more easily, reducing both the risk of contaminating earth with mars bacteria and contaminating mars with earth bacteria.

Once we know one way or another what kind of life exists on mars, then we can start thinking about sending humans. But that will invariably and irrevocably change mars.

Re:Infecting Mars

[mpe]

Goodness, let alone so-called Mars bacteria. Let's think about this - if Mars has bacteria on it at all, shouldn't it have evolved at roughly the same rate as Earth's?

You cannot compare. Since Martian bacteria would face different evolutionary preassures. On Mars surviving extremes to temperature is more important than on Earth. On Earth surviving in an oxygen rich environment is important, as is competition with all sorts of other organisms. (Including many which have sophisticated methods of killing bacteria.)

How the hell should I know?

[Get Behind the Mule]

The submitter, apparently addressing the community of Slashdot readers, finishes with this question:

What is the likelihood of bacterial life on Mars infecting the earth if we ever get around to visiting Mars in person?

All right, Mr. Submitter, I'll answer your question: I haven't the foggiest idea. I've learned a little here or there about microorganisms and their possible existence outside of the Earth during my lifetime, and I regard myself as a relatively intelligent person, and tend to have strong opinions about most anything, including stuff I don't know much about. But the awful truth is that I'm not the least bit qualified to speculate on the likelihood of extraterrestrial infections on Earth. That's not an informative answer, I admit, but it's honest, and I daresay a great deal more honest than nearly all of the responses you've received so far.

To be sure, there have been a few replies so far that seem to be thoughtful and well-informed, and perhaps they come from people who really are qualified to answer the question; but like I said, I'm not really qualified to make that evaluation. Almost all of the rest, it seems to me, are comments from people who may be relatively intelligent, may have read a thing or two about the possibility of extraterrestrial life, and have all kinds of strong opinions about anything, and now they are speculating with wild abandon. Which is fun, but they will give you almost no reliable answers to your question, and may lead you completely astray.

You probably wouldn't be having this problem if you had posted this question in a forum about "News for Molecular Biologists, Stuff That Matters to Astrophysicists". Why did you expect you expect to get any useful answers here?