In article ,
Mike Miller wrote:
More recent landers, e.g. Mars Pathfinder, generally have *not* been
sterilized, because it is now fairly certain that conditions on the
Martian surface are so hostile that it's virtually impossible for Earth
organisms to survive and spread.

Well, you learn something every day.
Old: clean. New: sloppy.

I should have added that there's a *reason* for this: sterilizing a
spacecraft is difficult. It's hard to make chemical sterilization work
well enough, and heat sterilization is terribly hard on electronics.
(Sterilization-induced failures are thought to have been a contributing
factor in the dismal early history of the Ranger program; the reforms that
got Ranger out of its mess included discontinuing sterilization.)
--
MOST launched 30 June; science observations running | Henry Spencer
since Oct; first surprises seen; papers pending. |