Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to Lock And Key Mechanism

re: Lock And Key Mechanism
Tom Brosz — (archived)

An Earth microbe would probably stand a better chance of spreading on Mars than vice versa (assuming there even are Mars microbes.) Like you say, competition.

If there were someplace in the Solar System that has raw nutrients...the equivalent of primeval Earth...and no life as yet, Earth life forms could possibly spread like wildfire. This is why Galileo is being dumped into Jupiter at a speed guaranteed to cook anything on board, rather than risk dumping it someplace like Europa.

I don't know if Mars qualifies as "nutrient rich" by any normal standards. I know microbes can eat some damn weird things, regardless of enzymatic function. If there are no native Martian microbes, the only thing stopping Earth contaminants would be the harsh conditions.

As you point out, earlier probes will probably answer a lot of these questions before the sample return mission even becomes an issue.

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