New Mars Forums

srmeaney

Member

From: 18 tiwi gdns rd, TIWI NT 0810

Registered: 2005-03-18

Posts: 976

Re: Where do we ship the Mars Scientific Samples

So Mars Station one is underway... the first two colonists have been collecting samples and sticking them in the Automated return vehicle for about two months.

OK Earth here comes a space vehicle of permafrost core samples and martian rocks.

Option four was missed here: Should the samples remain on Mars and the Scientific Discoveries be the property of the people who go to Mars? Current international law requires any discovery be to the benifit of the country whose territory the discovery is in. That covers cures and even diverse concepts as the arcaeological.

Dook

Banned

From: USA

Registered: 2004-01-09

Posts: 1,409

Re: Where do we ship the Mars Scientific Samples

Send them back to earth.  Quarantine is not necessary except to keep earth microbes from coming into contact with the mars samples.

GCNRevenger

Member

From: Earth

Registered: 2003-10-14

Posts: 6,056

Re: Where do we ship the Mars Scientific Samples

Since NASA execs who didn't send microscopes, amino acid chirality detectors, and other gear that would conclusively proove the presence of indigenous Martian life would have to be out of their minds, we should know with a high degree of certainty if samples contain living bacteria BEFORE shipping them to Earth. Appropriate measures could then be taken.

The ISS probobly won't be operating anymore by the time the first Mars missions start.

And why the Moon? They wouldn't have any better facilities then those available to Mars missions.

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RobertDyck

Moderator

From: Winnipeg, Canada

Registered: 2002-08-20

Posts: 7,934

Website

Re: Where do we ship the Mars Scientific Samples

The Johnson Space Center has a laboratory to examine extra-terrestrial rock and soil samples that may contain alien microbes. It's sealed to ensure disseases don't infect Earth. It was built for Apollo to examine Moon samples, and it's still there. They still use it to examine lunar samples. It turned out Moon dust doesn't have anything alive, but the facilities were built for samples that do. Send Mars samples there.

John Creighton

Member

From: Nova Scotia, Canada

Registered: 2001-09-04

Posts: 2,401

Website

Re: Where do we ship the Mars Scientific Samples

I voted quarantine the microbes on earth. Our microbes beat the martin microbes hands down. I’m willing to entertain the ideas of examine them anywhere for those people that think it is prudent. I’m not concerned by hey why not.

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Belinda

Member

From: UK

Registered: 2004-12-03

Posts: 31

Re: Where do we ship the Mars Scientific Samples

I voted quarantine it on Earth. I wld be interested to know how it could be more dangerous than some of the pathogens already being kept in labs not to mention ones out in the field that might mutate.