I have not seen this mentioned or discussed anywhere so.....Will BFS returning from Mars need to be cleaned, de-contaminated etc before landing back on Earth ?Mick.
there’s quite a lot of Mars material on Earth already.
But even if they were, I’m not sure what could be practically done before landing on Earth (eg in LEO) that would be any more effective than the months of travel in deep space to get from Mars back to Earth and then the rigors of re-entry.
Will BFS returning from Mars need to be cleaned, de-contaminated etc before landing back on Earth ?
If you haven't seen the movie "Life", they dive into this exact scenario.
I know that it is a really long shot but what if some kind of Martian matter gets somehow wedged in the landing legs and is carried back to Earth ?Based on Falcon 9 landings the legs will be closed for all but the last few seconds of Earth EDL so, in theory this material could be released into the atmosphere on landing.
But initially until it can be proved, SpaceX most likely have to decontaminate both ways.
There is no law forcing them to do so, but the least SpaceX wants to is to piss off NASA. And this is important for NASA.
I seriously doubt there’s anything that might need to be removed, there’s quite a lot of Mars material on Earth already.
Sterile dirt? Or do you just want to waste money on a "perceived" safety procedure that really does nothing for safety?
Quote from: FutureSpaceTourist on 01/13/2018 08:15 amI seriously doubt there’s anything that might need to be removed, there’s quite a lot of Mars material on Earth already. What mars material are you talking about?
What the scientists fear is that if we 50 years from now find some organism on Mars, then the discussion would be if it really came from Earth with us and adapted to the environment. And that there never was life on mars until we came. Or if it's always been there. Then again, when we colonize mars there is probably no way to avoid contaminating mars. The other way only if mars happens to have organisms. They might not be so friendly for us. Cause diseases etc that we might not be able to stop. Again, that assumes existing life on Mars.
Quote from: moreno7798 on 01/16/2018 10:20 pmSterile dirt? Or do you just want to waste money on a "perceived" safety procedure that really does nothing for safety?First the scientists want to protect Mars from Earth. There are lots of earth organisms that could probably survive and form on mars. There are even organisms living deep in lava stone here on earth. What the scientists fear is that if we 50 years from now find some organism on Mars, then the discussion would be if it really came from Earth with us and adapted to the environment. And that there never was life on mars until we came. Or if it's always been there. Then again, when we colonize mars there is probably no way to avoid contaminating mars. The other way only if mars happens to have organisms. They might not be so friendly for us. Cause diseases etc that we might not be able to stop. Again, that assumes existing life on Mars.
Quote from: ChrML on 01/17/2018 09:58 pmWhat the scientists fear is that if we 50 years from now find some organism on Mars, then the discussion would be if it really came from Earth with us and adapted to the environment. And that there never was life on mars until we came. Or if it's always been there. Then again, when we colonize mars there is probably no way to avoid contaminating mars. The other way only if mars happens to have organisms. They might not be so friendly for us. Cause diseases etc that we might not be able to stop. Again, that assumes existing life on Mars.As for some amazing superbug coming from Mars to hunt humans, it makes for (arguably) good fiction but is patently absurd to anyone with a basic understanding of microbiology.
I agree. I'm not a chemist or a biologist but I'd assume that any martian superbug seeking to do us harm would have to:1. ...have the same biology as human(earth) biology - very unlikely unless it evolved on earth.2. ...be able to interact with our biology. If it evolved with different biology, then to them humans might as well be dead rocks.3. ...want to feed on us. - Again, If it evolved with different biology, then it'd be like impala trying to feed on meat.