Are we (inadvertently) populating Mars?

[Macavity]

Are we (inadvertently) populating Mars? Sometimes I wonder...
Anyone who has worked with "radiation" / ultra clean stuff / etc.
must feel that masks and gloves etc. are only "best efforts"?!? 😛

https://www.wired.com/story/sneaky-new-bacteria-on-the-iss-could-build-a-future-on-mars/?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-en-GB

Full read here: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2021.639396/full

Aside: I felt "gutted" when Cassini burned up -- Probably for the best? 🤔

P.S. Don't have COVID nightmares! Just recalling *happy* times when,
as a "Chemist",  I ended up pockmarked by "HIGHLY coloured" *dust*
or made a compound that *stank* of MICE... Throughout the building! 🤣

Edited April 18, 2021 by Macavity

[Ouroboros]

I think this is a very good question. It’s one reason why I think there’s a good case for a moratorium on any human trips to Mars until robotic probes have determined that there either is or isn’t Martian life.  It’s quite possible that we have already contaminated Mars. But one thing we can be pretty sure of is that human exploration will muddy the waters as far as determining whether any life found in the future originated on Mars or on Earth.  It might be of course that Martian life is biologically so different that we might be pretty certain it originated on Mars. If on the other hand DNA/RNA is the only way life works in the universe then it would be better to know the places we explore are pristine. 

[Alien 13]

I am sure "life" finds its own way into space without the need for spacecraft and as for sterilization its impossible to kill all life, even Domestos only gets 99.9% 😀

Alan 

Edited April 18, 2021 by Alien 13

[JamesF]

3 minutes ago, Alien 13 said:

even Domestos only gets 99.9% 

And that's of the known ones.

James

[Gfamily]

As I understand it, there are Planetary Protection protocols that set tolerances for sterility depending on the characteristics of the target site.

 

For Mars, landers have different tolerances depending on where they are about to land.

I think they avoid areas where it is thought likely that there will be moisture near to the surface for the time being, So missions like Curiosity and Perseverance are in areas that may have had life billions of years ago, but are expected to be sterile now.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_protection

 

Edited April 19, 2021 by Gfamily

[Mr Spock]

No matter how 'clean' our equipment may be, life finds a way. I wouldn't be surprised if we left a trail of bacteria there.

[Alien 13]

You can sterilize all you want but a spacecraft has to travel through our atmosphere during launch and there are lots of critters who will take a free ride on the way 😀

Alan

Edited April 19, 2021 by Alien 13

[Gfamily]

6 minutes ago, Alien 13 said:

You can sterilize all you want but a spacecraft has to travel through our atmosphere during launch and there are lots of critters who will take a free ride on the way 😀

Alan

I'd expect the fairing to be airtight and assembled in a clean room so that the launch maintains sterility of the payload. Separation outside the atmosphere would take any adhering spores away from anything that might end up on the surface. 

 

[saac]

At the end of the day some time in the near future humans will land on Mars. From that point onward concerns over contamination become redundant .  Anyway, Im sure there are a variety of ways of telling the origins of molecules ( isotope mass numbers etc). We know that certain isotopes occur in what ratios on Earth and I'm sure on Mars by now.   Like I said though, once we set foot on the planet with a view of holding down a permanent presence then it all becomes irrelevant. 

Jim 

[Mr Spock]

James T Kirk and crew contaminated every planet they stepped on. So much for the prime directive 

[John]

27 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

James T Kirk and crew contaminated every planet they stepped on. So much for the prime directive 

You were the Science Officer Mr Spock - did you try and dissuade Kirk from this damaging activity ? 

[malc-c]

On a similar note... we've already started to damage the ecology on Mars.... there was a news report on the BBC website that NASA has manged to produce oxygen from the carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere... the by-product is vented into the Martian atmosphere... the by-product is carbon monoxide !!! -- If the future colonies on Mars is to be self sustaining then plans for larger conversion plants will have a very big impact on the atmosphere of Mars   

[saac]

14 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

James T Kirk and crew contaminated every planet they stepped on. So much for the prime directive 

That was probably a story line - crew return with alien bacteria on skin which gets transmogrified in the teleport and so ensue cataclysmic deep space warp factor 5 danger will robinson series of unfortunate events      

Jim 

[Mr Spock]

[Ags]

Probably life arose first on Mars and then contaminated Earth! Plenty of opportunity for microbes to hitch rides on ejecta from Mars headed Earthward.