If We Find Evidence of Life on Mars Should We Risk Going There?

[BAYLOR]

Okay , imagine we find evidence of Life on Mars, microscopic life. Do we dare risk going there and potentially contaminating the Martian Eco System or worse bring back a micro organism which could be potentially harmful here on Earth ?

What do you think?

 

[Ray McCarthy]

We have 'gone' already and space craft sterilization is done, but can be imperfect.
It would be very interesting indeed if any alien organism is harmful. Not impossible even if the "life" has no common (e.g. cometary origin). I do think if life can originate anywhere (we have one example), then it will originate everywhere that the conditions suit.

In order of least to most compatibility,
Virus, Bacteria, Yeasts, Fungus.
(virus needs compatible DNA, only similar Species affected, Fungus just needs nutrients)
A dormant virus on Mars would imply a once more diverse ecosystem. Anything alive today other than simple Bacteria would be staggeringly amazing. But anything alive today rather than past evidence of bacteria etc will be amazing.


The microscopic and macroscopic organisms (amoeba, the malaria parasite, liver fluke tapeworm, ticks, leeches) etc need compatible hosts to either breed or eat. But might be damaging even if we are incompatible. They are likely on other Star system "Goldilocks" planets, not Mars.


I do believe the risks (in both directions) have been studied and procedures developed. We aren't going to open our space suits or leave behind crisp wrappers, empty bean cans.
The lunar missions showed the difficulty of decontamination of suits.
A one way trip for humans might be easier. Older people past child raising age who want an unusual retirement plan with scientific research till they die rather than sitting at home with day-time TV, books and occasional Grand children visits.
Cat owners need not apply.

 

[Tower75]

I think we're going to Mars whether or not we find evidence of life. Might not be for decades to come, but a Mars landing by humans can be argued to be a dead cert in the future.

I'm more interested/worried about the implications of finding life. We've already found "organic matter" on that comet we landed on, but I'm unsure how or why that's not bigger news.

Imagine actually finding signs of life on Mars. People would loose their minds.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Imagine actually finding signs of life on Mars. People would loose their minds.

Unless it gives interviews, I'm afraid the general public would lose interest in a month or so.

 

[Dave]

I agree with everything Ray said. I would just add a few things about the likelihood of it being "harmful":

1. If life is found somewhere as close as Mars then we must be distantly related cousins (and therefore DNA with the same four base pairs.)
   
2. I'd doubt that it was adapted as a disease organism since it would never have had contact with evolved Earth-life (an intelligent alien could be infected by viruses that could "species jump". Most human viral diseases were originally animal diseases first and all those that we are currently worried about pandemics. However, I think an intelligent alien on Mars is science fiction.)
   
3. It would be adapted to very harsh environmental conditions that are unlikely to be found anywhere on Earth, and I doubt it would compete with Earth-life (Anoxic, Dry, Extremes of Temperature/pressure.)
   
4. If it did find some ecological niche here then we have plenty of examples of the effects of invasive foreign species within ecosystems and it is never good news for the native species (Brown Squirrels, Giant Hogweed, Japanese Knotweed, Indian ring-necked Parakeets, Mink, Muntjack, American Bullfrog, Virginia Creeper, Signal Crayfish.)

 

[Nick B]

I agree with Ray on this, including the fact people would quickly lose interest if it is a simple lifeform such as bacteria.
It would have huge implications to discover even the simplest life but unless it has tentacles, death rays or three breasts the general public would lose interest pretty quickly.

 

[Remedy]

I'm with you. Considering we have found life in the ocean depths, amongst super hot and toxic volcanic vents, I do not believe a space bacteria or virus will blow our minds.

Something resembling our molluscs or plankton will create a huge stir. More funding for exploration.

Finding sentient life, however, will send the whole planet bats&%t-crazy!

As to the dangers, we can't know until we find it.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Finding sentient life, however, will send the whole planet bats

Given the way communications is moving to fibre and our slow progress with Space, Aliens are more likely to visit us before we visit them, but only if there is practical way to do interstellar travel and that Space isn't a quarantine system.

Detection either way via Radio seems more and more unlikely.

Or that Aliens with practical Starships keep out of involvement with any species that hasn't Starships. Especially if they have nuclear / atomic warhead rockets.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Detection of pollution in an Atmosphere of Oxygen with moisture (possible 100x or more times feasible radio detection distance) though is perhaps plausible. So our current flavour of industrialisation is a bigger beacon in the Galaxy than Radio & TV ever was. Who'd have thought it?

 

[willwallace]

One theory has it that life on earth may have been seeded by a meteor hitting Mars back when it was more habitable, ejecting material that held microscopic life forms which then ended up on Earth when the second meteorite landed here. But it was so long ago, if true, the odds of life on both planets evolving over billions of years to still be somehow compatible with each other is slim, I would think. Anyway, why not bring back samples (if found) to an orbiting laboratory, and keep them off earth until exhaustively analyzed?

 

[paranoid marvin]

The human race has been killing life on this planet since it came into being ; why would we treat inhabitants of another planet any differently?

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Maybe if they are much more powerful than us?

 

[BAYLOR]

The human race has been killing life on this planet since it came into being ; why would we treat inhabitants of another planet any differently?

Very likely, we wouldn't .

 

[Nick B]

Extinction is a fact of life. Most lifeforms on this planet survive at the expence of other life. We are a part of nature and it's vicious cycles.

 

[J Riff]

No. Don't go there. Leave them alone.

 

[Vertigo]

I'm more interested/worried about the implications of finding life. We've already found "organic matter" on that comet we landed on, but I'm unsure how or why that's not bigger news.

It's not big news because we have already detected organic matter in meteorite debris, cosmic dust, cometary tails (I think), pretty much everywhere out there. In fact I believe it is estimated that around 20% of carbon in the universe is probably in organic molecules of some form.

The mistake is to think that such compounds must have anything to do with life:

An organic compound is any member of a large class of gaseous, liquid, or solid chemical compounds whose molecules contain carbon. For historical reasons, a few types of carbon-containing compounds such as carbides, carbonates, simple oxides of carbon (such as CO and CO2), and cyanides are considered inorganic.

These organic compounds are nothing more special than being (generally quite long) chains of carbon based molecules that can be formed by stars or through chemical reactions taking place in space. They do not have to be produced by life; they are just used by life.

So the more newsworthy result would have been if organic compounds had not been found on that comet.

As for worrying about contaminating any possible life on other planets, well if that is a significant concern then we'd best stop any extraterrestial exploration right now, never mind thinking about any kind of colonisation. Because if there is any out there we will eventually contaminate it and eventually bring it back here.

However I think it is also a mistake to think that any extraterrestial microbial life is going to wreak havoc on humans and/or Earth. All life evolves to exist (thrive even) in particular environmental niches. The chances of any such life finding anything in the human body that fits its niche so perfectly that it runs away and kills the human is so vanishingly unlikely as to be hardly worth considering. And yet we are not stupid and we do our best to decontaminate everything.

 

[Michael Colton]

If we do not see any evidence of a death ray, I say go for it.

Also, I should not be put in charge of these things.

 

[Foxbat]

Unless it gives interviews, I'm afraid the general public would lose interest in a month or so.

I'm sure Simon Cowell would find a way to keep people interested. He could call it The Extra-Terrestrial Factor.

Seriously - should we go? Absolutely.

 

[AsmaMohd]

It is quite costly and there is a risk of dust storms that can cover the entire planet for a whole month.

 

[J Riff]

Send oxygen and water.