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Scientists fear Curiosity rover drill bits could contaminate Mars
Christian Science Monitor ^
| 9-10-2012
| Louis Sahagun
Posted on 09/10/2012 8:07:04 AM PDT by servo1969
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To: DannyTN
Yep. I bet the Russians never cared about that stuff.
21
posted on
09/10/2012 8:33:20 AM PDT
by
GeronL
(The Right to Life came before the Right to Pursue Happiness)
To: cripplecreek
I had a Martian prom date.....she had three of them......eyes I mean....
22
posted on
09/10/2012 8:33:55 AM PDT
by
blueunicorn6
("A crack shot and a good dancer")
To: floralamiss
"In future, they will be."
Mars is a big planet. There will plenty of places left for that future research.
To: servo1969
The Invasive Species regulations and a “swarm of AgencyPersons” will soon “eat out the substance” of those critters.
24
posted on
09/10/2012 8:39:54 AM PDT
by
GladesGuru
(In a society predicated upon freedom, it is necessary to examine principles."...the public interest)
To: servo1969
ATTENTION ALL EARTHLINGS! KNEEL TO RECEIVE A MESSAGE FROM MARTIAN COMMANDER GELSNOT - You have invaded our planet and shot lasers at our rocks and now you plan to use a sharp instrument upon us. Cease immediately! As terms of your surrender, you will send us Hostess Ding-Dongs and salsa! Oh, and DVDs of your ruler Barney the purple dinosaur. You may now return to your banal existence.
25
posted on
09/10/2012 8:41:27 AM PDT
by
blueunicorn6
("A crack shot and a good dancer")
To: circlecity
I’m sorry, but do you ever think past the end of your nose? Are you in uncharted territory out there?
To: GeronL
Earth organisms that can survive space?Some bacteria are really tough. I the bacteria is embedded in a rock or chunk of ice I believe they can survive. However, I tend to doubt they could survive direct exposure to cosmic radiation.
Do you really think those organisms can survive on Mars?
My understanding is that on the surface of mars, it would be unlikely that bacteria could survive due to being bombarded by cosmic radiation. Below the surface, they could survive.
27
posted on
09/10/2012 8:53:43 AM PDT
by
fso301
To: floralamiss
I’m in the territory where when someone responds with an insult I assume they couldn’t articulate a coherent response to point made.
To: servo1969
Who’d a thunk it - the Martians have a EPA equipped with a bunch of job-killing regulations.
29
posted on
09/10/2012 8:55:20 AM PDT
by
OrioleFan
(Republicans believe every day is July 4th, Democrats believe every day is April 15th.)
To: fso301
30
posted on
09/10/2012 8:58:32 AM PDT
by
GeronL
(The Right to Life came before the Right to Pursue Happiness)
To: GeronL; All
Earth organisms that can survive space?
Do you really think those organisms can survive on Mars?
Yes, an yes, actually. Recent experiments have shown that some microbial communities adapted to low temperatures, high altitude, and living inside rocks can survive space exposure long enough to reach Mars- they were stuck outside the International Space Station for 1.5 years.
Even more impressive was an experiment earlier this year where a group took some high altitude lichens and exposed them to the surface conditions of Mars (atmospheric composition, atmospheric pressure, temperature, and radiation) for 34 days. The lichena survived in cracks and crevices and actually carried on photosynthesis just fine.
The research is done by Jean-Pierre Paul de Vera at the German Aerospace Center for Experimental Planetary physics.
Tardigrades (small animals) have been stuck out in space in experiments and survived too. Some organisms are incredibly tough.
31
posted on
09/10/2012 9:00:16 AM PDT
by
verum ago
(Be a bastard, and Karma'll be a bitch.)
To: fso301
32
posted on
09/10/2012 9:01:36 AM PDT
by
verum ago
(Be a bastard, and Karma'll be a bitch.)
To: verum ago
interesting
so they are probably ALREADY on Mars then
33
posted on
09/10/2012 9:02:50 AM PDT
by
GeronL
(The Right to Life came before the Right to Pursue Happiness)
To: verum ago; GeronL
Thanks. So, they can survive direct exposure to cosmic radiation?
34
posted on
09/10/2012 9:07:20 AM PDT
by
fso301
To: fso301
Sure apparently some microbes, I’m not which ones or if those would be important, seem to have been proven to survive in space. If that is true then Mars has very likely already been exposed to these microbes from Earth.
So drill, baby, drill
heh
35
posted on
09/10/2012 9:17:26 AM PDT
by
GeronL
(The Right to Life came before the Right to Pursue Happiness)
To: circlecity
I can’t imagine why I should care. Is Mars going to sue us? Sic it’s MEPA on us (Mars Environmental Protection Agency)
To: fso301; GeronL
Thanks. So, they can survive direct exposure to cosmic radiation?
Maybe. How they'd do in direct exposure outside Earth's magnetosphere is unknown, but they're fine after 18 months of full exposure on the outside of the ISS. But give them any shielding at all (like being inside the drill bit box on a rover...) and they ought to survive a journey of years with little loss in viability.
I think the prevailing wisdom for so many years that nothing can survive in space is interesting. It was basically just an assumption. And when tested, it turned out to be unsupported. Endolithipilic lichens require next to nothing in the way of oxygen, water, and CO2 to survive, and as it turns out, are radiation resistant (thus their being able to survive and stay metabolically active in Mars conditions). Then we have extremophilic bacteria like Deinoccocus radians. D. radians can survive radiation damage that chops its DNA into hundreds of pieces with almost no loss in viability, as well as vacuum, desiccation, and extremely high acidity. I wouldn't be surprised if it handled direct exposure to cosmic radiation fairly well.
37
posted on
09/10/2012 9:26:49 AM PDT
by
verum ago
(Be a bastard, and Karma'll be a bitch.)
To: circlecity
You’re right, I couldn’t “articulate” any point made, because we’re not speaking. I expressed an intelligent response, which you attempted to counter illogically. Another Freeper and I were trying to answer your question. At the time, we didn’t realize you were being rhetorical. Thanks for wasting our time.
To: floralamiss
"Thanks for wasting our time."
After reading your posts I can assure you that was no great loss.
To: verum ago
bump
very interesting
if we can train lichen as astronauts...
40
posted on
09/10/2012 9:33:23 AM PDT
by
GeronL
(The Right to Life came before the Right to Pursue Happiness)
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