In article ,
Mike Miller wrote:
No. Mars has already been biocontaminated. I think the Russians didn't
bother to decontaminate their 1971 lander and I don't think the
Vikings were held to exacting standards of decontamination, either.

Sorry, wrong: the Viking landers were quite carefully sterilized, and if
memory serves, the Russians made at least some attempt to sterilize their
landers too.

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. Attempts are still made to reduce the
"biological load" carried, e.g. by careful cleaning, to minimize possible
interference with future life-detection experiments. (And of course, any
probe which carries life-detection experiments -- as Beagle 2 did -- must
be sterilized to avoid false alarms.)
--
MOST launched 30 June; science observations running | Henry Spencer
since Oct; first surprises seen; papers pending. |