[meteorite-list] Mars rover pollution

From: Göran Axelsson <axelsson_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon Jul 18 17:00:05 2005
Message-ID: <42DC18C9.9020104_at_acc.umu.se>

Microbes are indeed sturdy little buggers but I doubt that
anyone would survive the trip to Mars.
It is true that they could survive at elevated temperatures
deep inside the Earth but that is still with water in it's fluid
state.
- During the voyage to Mars it will be subjected to vacuum
and high levels of background radiation. I have no idea
how well shielded some parts of the rovers were.
Optimally it could travel inside a pressurised container of
some kind.
- After the landing it would be subjected to a pretty hars
environment. The atmosphere is only one % of Earth levels
and the temperature is often at cryogenic temperatures.
There have actually been temperatures above the freezing
point of water but mostly not.
To add to the hardship Mars is very dry. Your buggers
would be freeze dried buggers.
If that isn't enough, the soil of Mars seems to be quite
corrosive whenenver you have the presens of water.
Any spores that are left on the surface will also be subjected
to UV-light and cosmic radiation. Actually the situation
is helped a bit by the lack of magnetic fields, there are
no radiation belts around Mars but the thin athmosphere
doesn't stop high energetic radiation from space.

Hopefully we don't put any buggers on the surface of
Mars, but I would be more concerned about places
with more aquatic environments, as Europe.

PS. I'm only a happy amateur, so feel free to point
out my obvious mistakes.

   :-)

/G?ran


Dave Harris wrote:

> I guess that's one way of looking at it!!
>
> ...and I seriously think that some spores will survive too...
>
> Should we not think more about this issue before lauching other probes
> either to Mars or other outlier globes?
>
> I know for a fact that microbes are found deep (I mean 2-3 km
> )underground trapped in 200 MY old meteoric water that have had no
> exposure to sunlight for that period and the ambient rock temp is
> about 50- 60 deg C - they reproduce slowly but they do survive.
> They are tenacious little buggers.
>
> -------Original Message-------
>
> From: Darren Garrison <mailto:cynapse_at_charter.net>
> Date: 07/18/05 18:45:02
> To: Dave Harris <mailto:entropydave_at_ntlworld.com>
> Cc: metlist <mailto:meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com>
> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Mars rover pollution
>
> On Mon, 18 Jul 2005 18:19:05 +0100 (GMT Daylight Time), "Dave Harris"
> <entropydave_at_ntlworld.com <mailto:entropydave@ntlworld.com>>
> wrote:
>
> >Hi,
> >I find it interesting that I have not heard any comments re my email
> >yesterday regarding NASA's inability to completely sterilise their Rovers
> >may lead to colonisation of another planet and the consequences of this
> >action.
>
> Okay, here's a comment: if the microbes are tough enough to survive
> travel through space, entry into
> Mars' atmosphere, and the harsh conditions on the surface of Mars and
> actually be able to reproduce
> and establish a population, then they deserve to win. More power to
> 'em. I for one welcome our new
> bacterial overlords.
Received on Mon 18 Jul 2005 05:02:01 PM PDT