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Joined: Dec 2010
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Megastar
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I expect that there will be some doubters. But it does seem to be the best evidence so far. As far as life is concerned, we will just have to wait and see.
And I expect you are right one more of NASA's hoaxes; going to the Moon and such like.
Bill Gill
C is not the speed of light in a vacuum. C is the universal speed limit.
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Superstar
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On Earth, where there is salty brine there is life. So I expect they will find something there, even if it is a halobacterium. Maybe even more complex life forms that are halotolerant. I can't wait to see what comes of the tests they are going to run, and if we can get to those streaks to actually test the brine itself. It's an exciting time for Mars watchers.
If you don't care for reality, just wait a while; another will be along shortly. --A Rose
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http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/...20&type=cta "The water, which apparently seeps down salty crater slopes as announced by the space agency on Monday, could be susceptible to contamination by Earth microbes, officials said. The Curiosity rover already trekking around the planet’s surface is not properly sterilized to avoid causing problems, they said." Does that seem like a lack of forethought?
There never was nothing.
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Megastar
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I was under the impression that they have been taking precautions with the various Mars rovers to keep from contaminating Mars with Earth microbes. My understanding is that they are cleaned very carefully to make sure they are sterile. However, having said that there may be some question as to just how sterile they are. Frankly getting something completely sterile while it is any place on Earth is a big job. I expect that anything baked at over 1,000 degrees F (537 degrees C) (my top of the head estimate) would probably be sterile. However, baking an interplanetary probe is kind of problematical and then after baking it you would have to keep it in a totally sealed environment. That all leads to problems with actually sterilizing the probe. So the best we can do is to be as careful as we can be, then if we find signs of life do a very careful analysis to be sure it wasn't a hitchhiker on the probe.
Bill Gill
C is not the speed of light in a vacuum. C is the universal speed limit.
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Megastar
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We did discuss this before, but it's worth resurrecting from post #52497 - 2014-07-07 06:02 AM Rose and Bill From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_protectionPlanetary protection> COSPAR recommendations and categories
* Category IVa. Landers that do not search for Martian life - uses the Viking lander pre-sterilization requirements, 300,000 spores per spacecraft and 300 spores per square meter. * Category IVb. Landers that search for Martian life. Adds stringent extra requirements to prevent contamination of samples. * Category IVc. Any component that accesses a Martian Special Region (see below) must be sterilized to at least to the Viking post-sterilization biological burden levels (30 spores total per spacecraft). Planetary protection> Mars Special Regions
A Special Region is a region classified by COSPAR within which terrestrial organisms could readily propagate, or one thought to have an elevated potential for existence of Martian life forms. This is understood to apply to any region on Mars where liquid water occurs, or can occasionally occur, based on the current understanding of requirements for life.
If a hard landing risks biological contamination of a Special Region, then the whole lander system must be sterilized to COSPAR category IVc.
The question remains, is NASA complying with the appropriate recommendation?
"Time is what prevents everything from happening at once" - John Wheeler
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Megastar
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Tough requirements. The real question there is how they can meet those requirements. To me just getting it down to 300,000 pores per spacecraft would be a major accomplishment. 30 spores sounds pretty near impossible.
Bill
C is not the speed of light in a vacuum. C is the universal speed limit.
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Sure does, Bill
As you mentioned, a real concern is 'false positives' isn't it, wherein a mission robot shouts "Eureka!" when it discovers microbes that it brought from Earth. But perhaps any microbes found may have come from Earth anyway, via meteorites - or, conversely, they turn out to appear terrestrial because their kin were transported to Earth. In theory, it looks like a two-way street; both seem possible, and perhaps likely.
"Time is what prevents everything from happening at once" - John Wheeler
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