Planetary protection issues Earth > Mars and Mars > Earth

[SpaceLizard]

Woah... Am I understanding correctly that we may be accidentally breeding space adapted lifeforms (if only microbial ones) as we speak?... That's...something 

[TheRadicalModerate]

So it isn't necessarily that a Space Plague will come direct, but rather it may adapt to its new home in the "wet market" of a space-adjacent cleanrooms.   

This has troubling implications for both forward and reverse contamination.  "Life.... uhh...... finds a way."

They just located the species in the cleanrooms.  There could be a few reasons for that:

1) They were looking.
2) It's easy to find new things, because the rooms are... clean.
3) The bacteria were selected due to the pressure of repeated bioburden reduction.
4) The bacteria mutated under the pressure of repeated bioburden reduction.

Only the last of these would be even slightly concerning.

PS:  Do they use VHP as a maintenance procedure in cleanrooms that host Cat IV-compliant equipment?

[Twark_Main]

So it isn't necessarily that a Space Plague will come direct, but rather it may adapt to its new home in the "wet market" of a space-adjacent cleanrooms.   

This has troubling implications for both forward and reverse contamination.  "Life.... uhh...... finds a way."

They just located the species in the cleanrooms.  There could be a few reasons for that:

1) They were looking.
2) It's easy to find new things, because the rooms are... clean.

Clean rooms are an extensively studied science.

3) The bacteria were selected due to the pressure of repeated bioburden reduction.
4) The bacteria mutated under the pressure of repeated bioburden reduction.

Only the last of these would be even slightly concerning.

For me, #3 is actually the one that's more concerning. Mutagens are everywhere, it's selective pressure in a "bad" direction (ie a cleanroom-defeating direction, which we tautologically can guarantee is happening) that you really have to worry about. Whether #4 is present just distinguishes whether it's selective breeding or mutation-assisted selective breeding.