Are Environmental Regulations On Mars Doing More Harm Than Good?
Mars Contamination NASA Two scientists say sterilization requirements for spacecraft are inhibiting research. Astrobiologists Alberto Fairen, and Dirk Schulze-Makuch have beef with environmental protection policies. Not here on Earth, that is, but on Mars, where rigid regulations from NASA's Office of Planetary Protection are holding back potentially life-discovering research, according to the pair's paper in Nature Geoscience today. While humans can't make it to Mars just yet, it's possible that some microbial spacecraft hitchhikers can survive the journey and make their home on the Red Planet. In fact, it's probable that they already have. Some Earth life might have also been transferred naturally through meteorites. NASA's Office of Planetary Protection would like to minimize the risk of bringing more life to Mars than we bargained for. Its goal is to "promote the responsible exploration of the solar system by minimizing the biological contamination of explored environment," which seems like a...