Could New Rover's Wheels Deliver Germs To Mars? 82
astroengine writes "Although the idea of "infecting" the Red Planet with our germs is nothing new, one microbiologist believes the next Mars rover may have a higher chance of becoming a microbe lifeboat. Andrew C. Schuerger, of the University of Florida and the Space Life Sciences Lab at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, believes the problem could lie in the way NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) will land on the Red Planet — wheels first. Previous Mars rovers have sat atop a lander platform for at least two Martian days (sols) before venturing into the regolith; any surviving bacteria attached to their wheels were therefore killed by the harsh UV light that bathes Mars. As the MSL's wheels will immediately make contact with the regolith straight after entry, there might be an increased chance of contaminating Mars with terrestrial germs. But still, as Schuerger admits, the risks are tiny."
Are we sure existing vehicles sterilized wheels? (Score:5, Insightful)
Previous Mars rovers have sat atop a lander platform for at least two Martian days (sols) before venturing into the regolith; any surviving bacteria attached to their wheels were therefore killed by the harsh UV light that bathes Mars.
Are we sure existing vehicles sterilized their wheels? It would seem they would need to roll forward a little during the process to expose the underside of the wheels. Wouldn't there be spots receiving little reflected UV given the texturing/treading of the wheels and the platform?
Re:Right... (Score:4, Insightful)
Except that the bacteria goes airborne, survives and propagates for a couple of generations beneath the soil, and many years later we discover rouge bits of DNA that look kind of like earthling DNA – and we are left wondering – is this because of cross contamination or did Mars and Earth share some type of link? [Comets, E.T.s etc.]
Re:Right... (Score:2, Insightful)
Except that the bacteria goes airborne, survives and propagates for a couple of generations beneath the soil, and many years later we discover rouge bits of DNA that look kind of like earthling DNA – and we are left wondering – is this because of cross contamination or did Mars and Earth share some type of link? [Comets, E.T.s etc.]
I see what you did there! Red planet => Rouge bits.
Nice!
Germs & Space (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Right... (Score:2, Insightful)
Its really unlikely that if, IF that happend, we'd be confused. Remember we can trace life on earth back ridiculously far, and most of that time was microbial only. It would be completely and totally obvious to modern microbiologists that any such organism had its origins on Earth. Simply put, even if the first microbes came here from a comet or somesuch, they have evolved to a vastly different state, a vastly more complex state than they were at first.
Any link, therefore, would be billions of years old, whereas these microbes would show very very recent adaptations from their earth-based evolution. We'd know if it if we saw it, is basically what im saying.