Posted on 05/06/2011 8:33:05 PM PDT by shove_it
There has been a long-lived bit of Apollo moon landing folklore that now appears to be a dead-end affair: microbes on the moon.
The lunar mystery swirls around the Apollo 12 moon landing and the return to Earth by moonwalkers of a camera that was part of an early NASA robotic lander – the Surveyor 3 probe.
On Nov. 19, 1969, Apollo 12 astronauts Pete Conrad and Alan Bean made a precision landing on the lunar surface in Oceanus Procellarum, Latin for the Ocean of Storms. Their touchdown point was a mere 535 feet (163 meters) from the Surveyor 3 lander -- and an easy stroll to the hardware that had soft-landed on the lunar terrain years before, on April 20, 1967. [Video: Apollo 12 Visits Surveyor 3 Probe]
The Surveyor 3 camera was easy pickings and brought back to Earth under sterile conditions by the Apollo 12 crew. When scientists analyzed the parts in a clean room, they found evidence of microorganisms inside the camera.
In short, a small colony of common bacteria -- Streptococcus Mitis -- had stowed away on the device.
The astrobiological upshot as deduced from the unplanned experiment was that 50 to 100 of the microbes appeared to have survived launch, the harsh vacuum of space, three years of exposure to the moon's radiation environment, the lunar deep-freeze at an average temperature of minus 253 degrees Celsius, not to mention no access to nutrients, water or an energy source. [Photos: Our Changing Moon]
Now, fast forward to today.
NASA's dirty little secret?
[...]
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
/johnny
Bttt.
I wouldn’t expect anything to survive on the surface. Maybe if it were buried a fair distance under the surface but not on the surface.
Very funny. They brought back moon cooties to prove it.
Project Scoop. /obscure
The moon microbes weren’t the real controversy, it was the evidence of life discovered by Viking on Mars. Two out of three well-designed tests were passed, whcih was the pre-defined threshold for NASA regarding the existence of life.
You bet, that's why it's likely the universe has all types of life outside earth. In fact, microorganisms were found at nuclear test sites, just under and around the sites after tests were performed.
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-PJ
Referring to Al Bean's ill-fated plan to use a photo timer stored with his dirt scoop to take a picture of him and Pete Conrad on the moon?
Probably referring to the book The Andromeda Strain.
If you only read the portion of the story printed above, you will think that microbes actually DID live through 2 years on the moon, etc. But if you click the Yahoo link and read the rest of it you will learn that not only were the microbes that were “discovered” a part of slovenly poor clean-room practices by the clods who did the research; the clods also were severely criticized for doing such a poor and unprofessional job and then inferring that it was some sort of space miracle. There are no microbes on the moon!
Now why did you have to go and spoil it?
This is the origin of Obamazombies?
Nope. A hint: Michael Crichton
I will bet any and all takers $100 each that we discover indigenous life on Mars.
There are plenty of Earth microbes that could survive in a salty hot spring on Mars.
Have lost the link, but Sir Arthur C. Clarke wrote a piece showing evidence of life from the Pathfinder photos. There are things that look like plant roots, seashells, seeds, etc. in the photos.
Anybody wanna bet against me?
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