Posted on 07/13/2015 1:43:10 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
WHEN can we declare the Red Planet a dead planet? Although most efforts so far have gone toward showing that other planets could support life, now is the time to think about the other side of the coin.
Spacecraft going to other worlds must follow costly planetary protection protocols, such as sterilisation, to avoid contaminating their destination with Earth microbes, putting any native life at risk, or bringing potentially dangerous alien ones back.
But if there’s nothing there, why bother? We haven’t found life on Mars yet, and if further missions also turn up nothing, at some point commercial space enterprises such as mining operations or tourism will want to avoid the costs of sterilisation.
The question has no simple answer, says Erik Persson, a philosopher at Lund University in Sweden – but that doesn’t mean we should dodge it.
Our track record on debating similar questions on Earth, like the use of genetically modified crops, is far from stellar. “On our planet, we usually have these kinds of discussions too late, either after the fact or when it’s about to happen and there are a lot of feelings,” Persson says. “At that stage, the discussion might not be as fruitful as it could be if we start earlier.”
That makes now the best time for scientists, legal experts and the public to start thinking about when and how we might relax planetary protection protocols if we decide another planet is lifeless, he says. “When the developers are on the launch pad, it’s too late,” he told the Astrobiology Science Conference in Chicago last month.
So far, most discussions on the protocols have been about how strict they should be, not when to end them.
(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...
I'm of the opinion "Who cares?" Let's just make it livable by our own standards, and to h3ll with any indigenous life.
I’m sure Mars, “The Red Planet”, is the obamanation administration’s favorite planet.
“better dead than red”
Actually we won’t know anything without digging a lot deeper than a few inches.
You really need to send a manned crew to do solid science, maybe get into the caves where any life might be protected.
We have been inhabitants of Earth for a long time
and we are still discovering life we didn’t know
existed. Let’s not rush things.
Never declare a planet lifeless until we have had a chance to contaminate it!!!
Anyone want to bet there never has been any life? People with any knowledge at should acknowledge that life can’t happen by accident.
They cannot trademark that name it offends some...
Send Justin Bieber or any other mew pop artist up. If nothing leaves it is dead.
There is zero doubt in my mind that there is life on Mars.
How many rocks do we find on the Earth that come from the surface of Mars? I’m not sure, but I have a couple...
Combine that fact with the idea that life can exist for a long, long, long time in space (we’re talking microbial life), and it defies my imagination that life DIDN’T get to Mars!
Microbial life is good enough for me and despite the claims of the left, it wouldn’t interfere with my God.
Are you kidding? This planet is about to explode, and I'd rather be somewhere else when that happens. Not wishing ill on the potential Martian bacteria, but when it comes to the well being of my family vs them, them bacteria are toast.
Seriously, we need to get sustainable human presence elsewhere, and apart from the ideas i've seen for colonizing Venus (Floating cities! Yipeee!) Mars is the only other potentially viable game in town.
ACK.ACKACK.ACK
Oh yeah, I’m all for colonization, we’ve got to get
off this rock before we’re all killed.
It is lifeless, or it isn’t lifeless. Declaring it one or the other will not change the reality.
WE DON’T KNOW!
All the Martians are underground.
Reminds me of this episode of the Twilight Zone...
Third from the Sun
"Will Sturka, a scientist who works at a military base run by the government, has been producing a great number of H-bombs in preparation for imminent nuclear war. Sturka realizes that there is only one way to escape—steal an experimental, top-secret spacecraft stored at the base. He plans to bring his co-worker Jerry Riden, along with their wives and Sturka's daughter Jody. The two plot for months, secretly supplying the ship and making arrangements for their departure.
When production of the bombs increases, Sturka realizes that time is running short. He and Riden decide to put their plan in action—take their families to the craft to tour it, and then overpower the guards and take off. Unfortunately, Sturka's superior Carling overhears the two men talking. Later that night, everyone gathers for a game of cards, where Riden reveals that he has found a place to go—a small planet 11 million miles away. During the game, Carling unexpectedly appears at the door; though he smiles and acts polite, he makes it clear that he knows what the group is planning. He also hints at trouble: "A lot can happen in forty-eight hours." After he leaves, Sturka and Riden inform the women that they must leave that very night.
When the five arrive at the site of the spacecraft, Sturka and Riden spot their contact, who flashes a light. When the contact steps forward, though, he is revealed to be Carling, armed with a gun. He forces Sturka and Riden away from the gate and prepares to call the authorities. The women, who have been waiting in the car, watch in horror as Carling orders them out. Jody suddenly throws the car's door open, knocking the gun from Carling's hand and giving the men enough time to overpower him. The group rushes into the ship, fighting off the guards that rush them.
Later that evening, the group has safely escaped their doomed planet and are on course. Riden comments that he cannot believe that there is a planet full of people like themselves. Sturka smiles as he points out on the ship's viewer their mysterious destination, 11 million miles away—the third planet from the Sun, called "Earth"."
I’ve heard that Venus may be a better candidate, provided it can be cooled down and cleaned up.
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