Disinfecting Spacecraft

[nathanielyork]

Does anyone know if the Apollo spacecraft and others were disinfected to avoid the risk of contamination with Earth organisms?

 

[harmonicaman]

This page has some interesting information detailing various steps taken to decontaminate the returning Apollo 11 capsule and astronauts.

 

[nathanielyork]

Thank you, but were they disinfected before they were launched as well?

 

[CalliArcale]

I doubt it. Since they were putting people on them, there would've been little point. Disinfect the ship, and then put three huge walking ecosystems on board (aka the crew). <img src="/images/icons/tongue.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[harmonicaman]

I'd just like to add that everything we send to Mars is disinfected so we don't contaminate the Martian environment with possibly dangerous terrestrial organisms; but this is looking more and more like a fools errand because we have so far failed to find any proof that life currently exists (or ever exited) on Mars.<br /><br />Note that astronauts and their equipment will face very stringent decontamination procedures when they return from a future Mars mission because of the very slight chance that some unidentified Martian organism could wreck havoc here on Earth.<br /><br />The Moon has always been considered a small risk for contamination, but Mars has the potential to be a far greater threat.

 

[najab]

Although as steve has pointed out many times, it is highly unlikely that a Mars organism - be adapted for survival on Mars with it's very different conditions - would be able to out-compete Earth-adapted organisms.

 

[harmonicaman]

<i>"...it is highly unlikely that a Mars organism - be adapted for survival on Mars with it's very different conditions - would be able to out-compete Earth-adapted organisms."</i><br /><br />Although that sounds like a very logical train of thought; I think our actual experience with introduced organisms demonstrates that we really must be extremely wary of any Mars-Earth contamination.<br /><br />Any living organism on Mars would have to be extremely hardy! It would necessarily be a master of survival and adaptable to severe conditions. By comparison, life on Earth has it easy. <br /><br />I think we should be very concerned about introducing something able to survive the rigors of Mars into Earth's soft ecosystem.<br /><br />Experience has shown us that introducing new species into ideal growing environments without any controls is disastrous, and I just don't think it's wise to take any chances with something as potentially devastating as some unknown Martian organism.

 

[najab]

The argument is that Earth's atmosphere is likely to be toxic to an organism used to 1/1000th the amount of Oxygen, and temperatures 50-60C lower.

 

[earth_bound_misfit]

I think this what the Japanese space program uses <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p> </p><p>----------------------------------------------------------------- </p><p>Wanna see this site looking like the old SDC uplink?</p><p>Go here to see how: <strong>SDC Eye saver </strong>  </p> </div>

 

[harmonicaman]

<b>najaB -</b><br /><br />I totally agree with you that any Martian organisms would find the O₂ in our atmosphere to be very toxic; as it is a poisonous waste product of most Earth life.<br /><br />I <i>still</i> believe we should err on the side of caution though...<img src="/images/icons/rolleyes.gif" />

 

[dragon04]

<font color="yellow">"I doubt it. Since they were putting people on them, there would've been little point. Disinfect the ship, and then put three huge walking ecosystems on board (aka the crew).</font><br /><br />This brings up an interesting point. We will undoubtedly send huge walking ecosystems to Mars in the not so distant future. "Cross-contamination" issues are inevitable, and inescapable.<br /><br />UV radiation would mitigate this to a large degree, but at some point, we will likely build habitats that cannot isolate our biostuff from contact with Mars.<br /><br />At some point in the distant future, we will perhaps land people on a life bearing world.<br /><br />Now to the point. Taking the above into consideration, in the big picture, why do we go to such great lengths to sterilize unmanned probes? Is it that we don't know the frequency and magnitude of non Terran life that drives us to do it? If life is abundant in the Universe, does that render the desire to respect indigenous life elsewhere null and void?<br /><br />It's inevitable that if we do in fact send people to other worlds, that our biological footprint will be everywhere we go. Do we have that right? Is it our manifest destiny to populate the Cosmos with Terran biology?<br /><br />When the time comes that we CAN explore and/or populate Alpha Centauri 6, the ethical debate might be interesting.<br /><br /><br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>"2012.. Year of the Dragon!! Get on the Dragon Wagon!".</em> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>Now to the point. Taking the above into consideration, in the big picture, why do we go to such great lengths to sterilize unmanned probes? Is it that we don't know the frequency and magnitude of non Terran life that drives us to do it? If life is abundant in the Universe, does that render the desire to respect indigenous life elsewhere null and void? <p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />I don't think it actually has anything to do with a Star Trekkie Prime Directive or anything like that. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> Nor with respect for alien ecosystems. It's more to do with scientific contamination. Scientists just want to be sure that if they find evidence of life on another world, it doesn't turn out to be stuff we brought with us. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[erioladastra]

I don't think we can ever make such statements categorically. We didn't think a common bacteria would surive on the Surveryor 3 camera. At one point it was clear that life could in no way survive by a volcanic vent at the bottom of the ocean. Like in Jurrasic Park - life has a way of being more clever than our imagination.

 

[drwayne]

"We didn't think a common bacteria would surive on the Surveryor 3 camera."<br /><br />Note that it is not clear that it did. There is in fact cosiderable thought that it did not actually come back from the moon.<br /><br />Wayne <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>"1) Give no quarter; 2) Take no prisoners; 3) Sink everything."  Admiral Jackie Fisher</p> </div>

 

[bonzelite]

common lichen can exist and survive in the vacuum of space and return home. this happened some time ago in an experiment. were such a lichen to grow elsewhere, and multiply en route, it may theoretically re-establish on another planet. <br /><br />i wonder if it would establish on the bare naked surface of mars.