[meteorite-list] Mars life concerns

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon Jul 18 20:35:16 2005
Message-ID: <200507190034.j6J0YQs14445_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

>Jaffe wrote to the Planetary Society that according to a report from
>somebody on his staff who had witnessed the biological test which
>gave positive results, a "breach of sterile procedure" took place at
>just the right time to produce a false positive result.

>One of the implements being used to scrape samples off the Surveyor parts
>was laid down on a non-sterile laboratory bench, and then was used to
>collect surface samples for culturing. It was that sample set which
>showed the presence of the germs, a common human infectuous bacteria.
>
>Dr. Jaffe: "It is, therefore, quite possible that the
>microorganisms were transferred to the camera after its return to Earth,
>and that they had never been to the Moon. The test, of course, could
>only be performed once, and the parts were subsequently taken out of
>quarantine and fully re-exposed to terrestrial conditions, so we'll
>never know for sure. But it looks suspiciously like a lab error
>rather than a lunar germ colony."
>
>So concludes, Leonard D. Jaffe, Surveyor project scientist and
>custodian of the Surveyor 3 parts.

In addition to this, it is also possible contamination came
from the astronauts themselves since the camera was not quarantined
until it was returned to Earth. From the report about the Surveyor 3
analysis:

  "After the television camera was removed from the Surveyor 3 spacecraft,
   it was placed into a back pack carried by one of the astronauts.
   The pack was zipper-closed, although there was no capability for
   sealing it."

  "Upon return to Earth, the camera and lunar samples were place in
   quarantine in the Lunar Receiving Laboratory (LRL)."

  "The pack was placed in storage first aboard the Lunar
   Module and then the Command Module and finally was flown to the LRL by
   jet aircraft."

Also, the microorganism found on the Surveyor 3 camera was identified as
alpha hemolytic Streptococcus mitis, or S. mitis for short.

>From the same report, it was noted that S. mitis, the same type of
microorganism found on the Surveyor 3 camera, was also found in the
Apollo 12 spacecraft and the astronauts.

  "The Apollo 12 astronauts, spacecraft, and space suits were sampled before
   launch, and after recovery. All three astronauts carried species of
   a number of microorganisms, including S. mitis".

The camera was thrown into a back pack, and spent several days in closed
quarters with the astronauts in non-quarantined conditions. So,
contamination of s. mitis from the astronauts to the camera cannot
be ruled out.

Ron Baalke
Received on Mon 18 Jul 2005 08:34:26 PM PDT