John Doe wrote:
Jim Oberg wrote:

At the impact speeds of the particle collection,
it would be self-sterilizing to the nth degree.

For conventional viri and microbes, yes, assuming a head-on collision.
But assuming every particle will be at speed of 0 while the ship is at
high speed is perhaps a dangerous assumption. And assuming that only
viri and microbes known on earth are a danger to the human body is also
a dangerous assumption.

Well, that depends on what you think of JSC ;-) That's where the
capsule is being opened.


And it works both ways too. You don't want stuff on earth to contaminate
what it has collected.

Oh, the exterior of the capsule should be pretty well sterilized,
too...I think it exceeded 104 F for more than 2 mintues....

/dps