contamination of other worlds/ moons?

With out landing of probes on Mars, Venus and now Titan, I can't help but
wonder if we're also contaminating those worlds? I doubt if anything would
survive externally on the probes after going through space, but what about
tools, cutters, etc that come from inside?

John L.

John Lingenfelter:
With out [sic] landing of probes on Mars, Venus and now Titan, I can't help but
wonder if we're also contaminating those worlds? I doubt if anything would
survive externally on the probes after going through space, but what about
tools, cutters, etc that come from inside?

The answer is "It is entirely possible that we have contaminated Mars,
Venus, our own Moon, and Titan with microörganisms, but there is a good
chance that we will never know if this is true." The likelihood that
humans will ever explore Venus or Titan is vanishingly remote, and Mars
also seems to be a improbable target, in spite of grandiose talk here
and there. As for going back to the Moon, for what purpose?

Consider this: suppose life on Earth sprang from microörganisms that
were brought here -- intentionally or not -- by a visiting space probe
from a (then) nearby star very early in Earth's history. I can imagine
the radioed report: "Landed on a sea shore. Gullies seen were probably
created by liquid water... No life detected..."

Davoud

--
usenet *at* davidillig dawt com

On Sun, 23 Jan 2005 11:25:16 GMT, "John Lingenfelter"
wrote:

With out landing of probes on Mars, Venus and now Titan, I can't help but
wonder if we're also contaminating those worlds? I doubt if anything would
survive externally on the probes after going through space, but what about
tools, cutters, etc that come from inside?

In recent years, care has been taken to sterilize probes. But certainly
contamination is possible. Personally, I feel it is impossible in the
long run to avoid it, and a certain amount of contamination has probably
occurred naturally, from meteorites (at least in the direction of outer
planets inwards). Where humans go, our organisms will go with us.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

I doubt if anything would
survive externally on the probes after going through space, but what about

I thought there were some articals about microbes surving interplanetary
travel.

Chris L Peterson wrote:
On Sun, 23 Jan 2005 11:25:16 GMT, "John Lingenfelter"
wrote:


With out landing of probes on Mars, Venus and now Titan, I can't help but
wonder if we're also contaminating those worlds? I doubt if anything would
survive externally on the probes after going through space, but what about
tools, cutters, etc that come from inside?


In recent years, care has been taken to sterilize probes. But certainly
contamination is possible. Personally, I feel it is impossible in the
long run to avoid it, and a certain amount of contamination has probably
occurred naturally, from meteorites (at least in the direction of outer
planets inwards). Where humans go, our organisms will go with us.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

I'd like to add something here - I've read somewhere (I think it was a
book about Pathfinder) how despite the best efforts to keep clean the
work environment and to sterilize the probes, there are a number of
bacteria species that survives as spores. There is nothing that can be
done to destroy it, without destroying or damaging the probe itself.
They are putting the best efforts to minimize the contamination, but
that's all.

Regards,

- Alex

John Lingenfelter wrote:
With out landing of probes on Mars, Venus and now Titan, I can't help
but
wonder if we're also contaminating those worlds? I doubt if anything
would
survive externally on the probes after going through space, but what
about
tools, cutters, etc that come from inside?

John L.

Hey, John!

I wrote an article on planetary protection about a year ago, portions
of which were posted into Sci.Astro.Amateur. You may find it of
interest. It can be found he
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/...read/d8af9e82=
9546239e/ba68e7fec06d0acd?q=3Dmichael+foerster+destiny&_don e=3D%2Fgroup%2Fs=
ci.astro%2Fsearch%3Fgroup%3Dsci.astro%26q%3Dmichae l+foerster+destiny%26qt_g=
%3D1%26searchnow%3DSearch+this+group%26&_doneTitle =3DBack+to+Search&&d#ba68=
e7fec06d0acd

*****
~May you have clear skies & a star to steer by! =A4Michael=A4

~************************************************* *************~
~ =A4MICHAEL FOERSTER=A4
~ =A4The Starry-Nite Society ~ Research Lead
~ =A4NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab ~ Solar System Ambassador
~ =A4NASA's Night Sky Network ~ Project Manager(Starry-Nite)
~ =A4Project ASTRO / Polaris ~ Mission Specialist
~ =A4E-Address: Skywatch@(insert domain from next line).net
~ =A4Domain: Starry-Nite.net
~ =A4N42=B031'13.3" =A4 W83=B008'43.2" =A4 668' =A4 -5 GMT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ FAMOUS LAST WORDS - A SERIES
~ "Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?"
~ H.M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927
~************************************************* *************~

One thing never to underestimate is the capacity of life to develop and
exist in what we consider a hostile environment. As examples, Sulfur
vent worms at the bottom of the sea, bacteria inside nuclear reactor
pressure vessels to name two.
Every precaution is taken prior to launch to insure that terrestrial
life does not propagate to other worlds, but life is tenacious and will
defy all attempts at extermination. I am not talking about genetic
extinction but sanitation.

Dave N.


wrote:

John Lingenfelter wrote:

With out landing of probes on Mars, Venus and now Titan, I can't help

but

wonder if we're also contaminating those worlds? I doubt if anything

would

survive externally on the probes after going through space, but what

about

tools, cutters, etc that come from inside?

John L.


Hey, John!

I wrote an article on planetary protection about a year ago, portions
of which were posted into Sci.Astro.Amateur. You may find it of
interest. It can be found he
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/...68e7fec06d0acd