Bacteria & Titan

Here's a thought which crossed my mind whilst reading up on the Apollo
missions. I read that one Apollo mission retrieved a camera from the moon
left behind by a previous mission. Upon examination the camera was found to
have bacteria which was still viable and that bacteria was earthly. Seems
that it had survived several years in the airless enviroment of the moon for
several years.
Now here's the thing, does anyone know how well and if Huygens was cleaned
up before being allowed to go to Titan? It strikes me that if the moon
story is true, there has to be a fair bet that surviving bacteria landing on
Titan stands a reasonable chance of surviving and/or mutating in the Titan
atmosphere and ultimately prospering. Who can predict the outcome of such
an event. Similarily, what about all those probes, succesful and otherwise
we bombard Mars with.
Any links to knowlegable sources would be welcome.
I thank you.

On Fri, 18 Feb 2005 10:16:14 +0000 (UTC), "Canuck"
wrote:

Here's a thought which crossed my mind whilst reading up on the Apollo
missions. I read that one Apollo mission retrieved a camera from the moon
left behind by a previous mission. Upon examination the camera was found to
have bacteria which was still viable and that bacteria was earthly. Seems
that it had survived several years in the airless enviroment of the moon for
several years.
Now here's the thing, does anyone know how well and if Huygens was cleaned
up before being allowed to go to Titan?

See 'No bugs please, this is a clean planet!':

http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/obj...objectid=30313

- Mike

Thank you

"Mike Murphy" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 18 Feb 2005 10:16:14 +0000 (UTC), "Canuck"
wrote:

Here's a thought which crossed my mind whilst reading up on the Apollo
missions. I read that one Apollo mission retrieved a camera from the moon
left behind by a previous mission. Upon examination the camera was found
to
have bacteria which was still viable and that bacteria was earthly. Seems
that it had survived several years in the airless enviroment of the moon
for
several years.
Now here's the thing, does anyone know how well and if Huygens was cleaned
up before being allowed to go to Titan?

See 'No bugs please, this is a clean planet!':

http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/obj...objectid=30313

- Mike

your thinking of Surveyor 3 and Apollo 12

the pieces Apollo 12 brought back you can see in the Smithsonian in
Washington DC


"Canuck" wrote in message
...
Here's a thought which crossed my mind whilst reading up on the Apollo
missions. I read that one Apollo mission retrieved a camera from the moon
left behind by a previous mission. Upon examination the camera was found
to
have bacteria which was still viable and that bacteria was earthly. Seems
that it had survived several years in the airless enviroment of the moon
for
several years.
Now here's the thing, does anyone know how well and if Huygens was cleaned
up before being allowed to go to Titan? It strikes me that if the moon
story is true, there has to be a fair bet that surviving bacteria landing
on
Titan stands a reasonable chance of surviving and/or mutating in the Titan
atmosphere and ultimately prospering. Who can predict the outcome of such
an event. Similarily, what about all those probes, succesful and
otherwise
we bombard Mars with.
Any links to knowlegable sources would be welcome.
I thank you.

As I understood it the microbes on the Apollo craft were dormant for all
their time outside Earth's atmosphere. Given how cold Titan is, I would
presume that any Earth life (outside any future artificial biosphere!) able
to survive would be dormant there as well.

"Canuck" wrote in message
...
Here's a thought which crossed my mind whilst reading up on the Apollo
missions. I read that one Apollo mission retrieved a camera from the moon
left behind by a previous mission. Upon examination the camera was found
to
have bacteria which was still viable and that bacteria was earthly. Seems
that it had survived several years in the airless enviroment of the moon
for
several years.
Now here's the thing, does anyone know how well and if Huygens was cleaned
up before being allowed to go to Titan? It strikes me that if the moon
story is true, there has to be a fair bet that surviving bacteria landing
on
Titan stands a reasonable chance of surviving and/or mutating in the Titan
atmosphere and ultimately prospering. Who can predict the outcome of such
an event. Similarily, what about all those probes, succesful and
otherwise
we bombard Mars with.
Any links to knowlegable sources would be welcome.
I thank you.

In message , Andy
writes


"Canuck" wrote in message
...
Here's a thought which crossed my mind whilst reading up on the Apollo
missions. I read that one Apollo mission retrieved a camera from the moon
left behind by a previous mission. Upon examination the camera was found
to
have bacteria which was still viable and that bacteria was earthly. Seems
that it had survived several years in the airless enviroment of the moon
for
several years.

your thinking of Surveyor 3 and Apollo 12

the pieces Apollo 12 brought back you can see in the Smithsonian in
Washington DC

Isn't there some doubt about whether the bacteria were originally on the
camera? They might have been from the astronauts.
Did the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) yield any bacteria?
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