R.L. -

Here are your hero's and their very silly legacy:

Life Inside Tall Tin Can in Utah Is All Mars
BLAINE HARDEN . NY Times . 23 march 2002

"They go outside in white canvas space suits trimmed in duct tape. Their helmets are made from plastic light fixtures and white bullet-shaped trash-can lids. In their habitation module (the thing that looks like a silo), they sit with their laptops late into the cold desert night, typing up reports of simulated Mars disasters."

http://shockandawe.us/archives/Science/020323a.htm

Wow, R.L. aren't you sophisticated! Duct tape and canvas space research. Figures.

Here are a few more people I admire:

To help you and your understanding of how bacterial spores can survive in space, read and save (I will not post it again):

Survivability and protection of bacterial spores in space - the BIOPAN experiment

Rettberg, P.; Rabbow, E.; Panitz, C.; Reitz, G.; Horneck, G.
:
In: Proceedings of the First European Workshop on Exo-Astrobiology, 16 - 19 September 2002, Graz, Austria. Ed.: Huguette Lacoste. ESA SP-518, Noordwijk, Netherlands: ESA Publications Division, ISBN 92-9092-828-X, 2002, p. 105 - 108

Abstract

For the study of the responses of organisms to the space environment the survivability of bacterial spores of Bacillus subtilis exposed to different subsets of the extreme environmental parameters in space (vacuum, extraterrestrial solar UV, shielding by protecting materials like clay, red sandstone, Martian "soil" analogue or meteorite powder) was investigated in the BIOPAN facility of the European Space Agency onboard of Russian Earth-orbiting Foton satellites (BIOPAN 1-3 missions). After about 2 weeks in space, unprotected spores were completely or nearly completely inactivated. In contrast, the survival rate was about 1 to 7×10-3, if spores in dry layer were directly mixed with powder of clay, rock or meteorites. These data confirm the deleterious effects of extraterrestrial solar UV radiation and show the extraordinary resistance of spores against vacuum. It can be concluded that for planetary protection requirements of a lander mission a careful sterilization of all parts of a spacecraft which are not directly exposed to the solar UV radiation is absolutely necessary.

Human missions to Mars and astrobiology: two sides of the same coin
Authors: Horneck, Gerda Journal:
In: Proceedings of the First European Workshop on Exo-Astrobiology, 16 - 19 September 2002, Graz, Austria. Ed.: Huguette Lacoste. ESA SP-518, Noordwijk, Netherlands: ESA Publications Division, ISBN 92-9092-828-X, 2002, p. 269 - 273

Abstract
Human exploratory missions are driven by several aspects of science, technology, culture and economy. The search for morphological or chemical signatures of life or its relics is one of the primary and most exciting goals of Mars exploration. In addition, disciplines like geology, mineralogy, and atmospheric research play a central role in the scientific exploration of Mars. The presence of humans on the surface of Mars will substantially increase this research potential, e.g., by supporting deep surface drilling and by in situ analysis of samples of astrobiological interest. On the other hand, the import of microorganisms accompanying inevitably an human mission to Mars, or purposely as part of a bioregenerative life support system, needs careful consideration with regard to planetary protection purposes. Before planning any human exploratory mission, the critical issues concerning human health and wellbeing as well as protection of Mars in its pristine condition need to be investigated.

Survival of microorganisms in space protected by meteorite material: Results of the experiment `EXOBIOLOGIE' of the PERSEUS mission
Authors: Rettberg, P.; Eschweiler, U.; Strauch, K.; Reitz, G.; Horneck, G.; Wänke, H.; Brack, A.; Barbier, B.

Advances in Space Research, Volume 30, Issue 6, p. 1539-1545

Abstract
During the early evolution of life on Earth, before the formation of a protective ozone layer in the atmosphere, high intensities of solar UV radiation of short wavelengths could reach the surface of the Earth. Today the full spectrum of solar UV radiation is only experienced in space, where other important space parameters influence survival and genetic stability additionly, like vacuum, cosmic radiation, temperature extremes, microgravity. To reach a better understanding of the processes leading to the origin, evolution and distribution of life we have performed space experiments with microorganisms. The ability of resistant life forms like bacterial spores to survive high doses of extraterrestrial solar UV alone or in combination with other space parameters, e.g. vacuum, was investigated. Extraterrestrial solar UV was found to have a thousand times higher biological effectiveness than UV radiation filtered by stratospheric ozone concentrations found today on Earth. The protective effects of anorganic substances like artificial or real meteorites were determined on the MIR station. In the experiment EXOBIOLOGIE of the French PERSEUS mission (1999) it was found that very thin layers of anorganic material did not protect spores against the deleterious effects of energy-rich UV radiation in space to the expected amount, but that layers of UV radiation inactivated spores serve as a UV-shield by themselves, so that a hypothetical interplanetary transfer of life by the transport of microorganisms inside rocks through the solar system cannot be excluded, but requires the shielding of a substantial mass of anorganic substances.

Viable transfer of microorganisms in the solar system and beyond
Authors: Horneck, Gerda; Mileikowsky, Curt; Melosh, H. Jay; Wilson, John W.; Cucinotta, Francis A.; Gladman, Brett
Journal: In: Astrobiology. The quest for the conditions of life. Gerda Horneck, Christa Baumstark-Khan (eds.). Physics and astronomy online library. Berlin: Springer, ISBN 3-540-42101-7, 2002, p. 57 - 76

Abstract
Contents: Scenario of interplanetary transfer of life within the solar system. Survival of the escape process. Survival of the interplanetary transfer phase. Survival of the landing process. Conclusions: On the likelihood of interplanetary transfer of life as a mode of distribution of life throughout the solar system. Outlook: On the likelihood of transport of viable microorganisms between solar systems.

Protection of Bacterial Spores in Space, a Contribution to the Discussion on Panspermia
Authors: Horneck, Gerda; Rettberg, Petra; Reitz, Günther; Wehner, Jörg; Eschweiler, Ute; Strauch, Karsten; Panitz, Corinna; Starke, Verena; Baumstark-Khan, Christa

Abstract
Spores of Bacillus subtilis were exposed to space in the BIOPAN facility of the European Space Agency onboard of the Russian Earth-orbiting FOTON satellite. The spores were exposed either in dry layers without any protecting agent, or mixed with clay, red sandstone, Martian analogue soil or meteorite powder, in dry layers as well as in so-called `artificial meteorites', i.e. cubes filled with clay and spores in naturally occurring concentrations. After about 2 weeks in space, their survival was tested from the number of colony formers. Unprotected spores in layers open to space or behind a quartz window were completely or nearly completely inactivated (survival rates in most cases <=10^-6). The same low survival was obtained behind a thin layer of clay acting as an optical filter. The survival rate was increased by 5 orders of magnitude and more, if the spores in the dry layer were directly mixed with powder of clay, rock or meteorites, and up to 100% survival was reached in soil mixtures with spores comparable to the natural soil to spore ratio. These data confirm the deleterious effects of extraterrestrial solar UV radiation. Thin layers of clay, rock or meteorite are only successful in UV-shielding, if they are in direct contact with the spores. The data suggest that in a scenario of interplanetary transfer of life, small rock ejecta of a few cm in diameter could be sufficiently large to protect bacterial spores against the intense insolation; however, micron-sized grains, as originally requested by Panspermia, may not provide sufficient protection for spores to survive. The data are also pertinent to search for life on Mars and planetary protection considerations for future missions to Mars.

Biological responses to solar UV radiation in space and on Earth
Authors: Rettberg, P.; Scherer, K.; Horneck, G.
Journal:
In: Exo-/astro-biology. Proceedings of the First European Workshop, 21 - 23 May 2001, ESRIN, Frascati, Italy. Eds.: P. Ehrenfreund, O. Angerer & B. Battrick. ESA SP-496, Noordwijk: ESA Publications Division, ISBN 92-9092-806-9, 2001, p. 247 - 250

Abstract
Solar UV radiation is a dynamic driving force of organic chemical evolution. However, it has had also severe constraints in biological evolution. During the early history of life on Earth, before the formation of a protective ozone layer in the atmosphere, high intensities of solar UV radiation of short wavelengths could reach the surface of the Earth. Today the full spectrum of solar UV radiation is only experienced in space, where other important space parameters influence survival and genetic stability additionally, like vacuum, cosmic radiation, temperature, extremes, microgravity. To reach a better understanding of the processes leading to the origin, evolution and distribution of life on Earth we have performed several space experiments with microorganisms. The ability of resistant life forms like bacterial spores to survive high doses of extraterrestrial solar UV alone or in combination with other space parameters, e.g. vacuum, was investigated. Extraterrestrial solar UV was found to have a thousand times higher biological effectiveness than UV radiation filtered by stratospheric ozone concentrations found today on Earth. Radiative transfer models predicting a strong correlation between the decrease in biologically effective UV radiation with increasing ozone concentrations during the history of life on Earth could be validated experimentally in space.

Risks threatening viable transfer of microbes between bodies in our solar system
Authors: Mileikowsky, C.; Cucinotta, F. A.; Wilson, J. W.; Gladman, B.; Horneck, G.; Lindegren, L.; Melosh, J.; Rickman, H.; Valtonen, M.; Zheng, J. Q.

Planetary and Space Science, Volume 48, Issue 11, p. 1107-1115.

Abstract
A fraction of the number of ejecta expelled from a planet by comet or asteroid impacts end up landing on another planet. If microorganisms were living in the ground before impact, they would be transported inside ejecta to the target planet. During that perilous trip, they would be subject to four main categories of threat to their survival: dynamical stress, excess temperature, radiation, chemical attack and vacuum. The effect of these, in the form of survival fractions as a function of time, as well as approximate numbers of arriving ejecta with viable flight times, have been investigated in a quantitative study we have made. The result shows that viable transfer from Mars to Earth and vice versa was highly probable during the first 0.5 Ga, and also probable, but with lower frequency, thereafter. Here we follow up with considerations about the consequences of the result regarding the question of whether the ancestor cell of all life on Earth must have originated on Earth, or whether it could have originated on Mars, its descendants thereafter moving to Earth. Some other possible consequences are also discussed.

Transfer of Potentially Life-carrying Meteoroids from One Planetary System to Another
Authors: Valtonen, M. J.; Zheng, J. Q.; Mileikowsky, C.; Lindegren, L.; Rickman, H.; Cucinotta, F. A.; Wilson, J. W.; Gladman, B.; Horneck, G.; Melosh, J.

Abstract
We calculate the probability that large size ejecta from a major collision on a planet in an extrasolar planetary system find their way to our solar system and collide with the Earth. The production rate of ejecta is estimated from the conditions in Our Solar System, and the evolution of the environment of the Sun is derived on the assumption that the Sun was initially a member of a star cluster. The maximum survival times of colonies of bacteria in the interstellar space are estimated when the bacteria reside inside large meteoroids. Using the maximum survival times as the maximum travel time we derive the probability that a potentially life-carrying meteoroid from an extrasolar system has landed on the Earth during the Earth's history. The probability is less than unity, but not necessarily by many orders of magnitude.

Martian meteorites do not eliminate the need for back contamination precautions on sample return missions
Authors: Clark, Benton C.

Advances in Space Research, Volume 30, Issue 6, p. 1593-1600

Abstract
The phenomenon of natural transport of material from the surface of Mars to the surface of planet Earth, in the form of martian meteorites, cannot be used as justification to relax or abolish plans and procedures for quarantine and strict sample containment for future Mars sample return missions (MSR). Biosphere upsets, ecological disasters, and species extinctions have been far too numerous and their causes too poorly understood to rule out occasional possible contributions from exogenous biological invaders. In addition, in today's large, highly intertwined global civilizations, even small perturbations to public health, ecological stability, economic balances, or perceived threat of any of these could eclipse the public support that will be needed for space exploration and sample return programs with responsible planetary protection measures.

Astrobiology's Central Dilemma: How can we detect Life if we cannot even Define it?
Authors: Clark, B. C.

Abstract
Culling and consolidating from a collection of 102 attributes asserted as properties of Life, and the numerous Definitions of Life which invoke them, a new definition is proposed. Analysis of the pathways to proving that any given entity, from micro-sample to planetary object, harbors one or more lifeforms provides strategies for the observations, experiments and detection approaches. These are necessarily varied because of the relative accessibility/inaccessibility of the samples themselves, for example, from Mars, Europa, the ancient Earth or extra-solar system planets. A two-tiered Definition of Life has been formulated, involving both Lifeform and Organism. Devising exploration strategies with a reasonable probability of success and acceptance should proceed along the steps needed for detection and verification of the minimal properties which define Life itself. Multiple approaches, such as high resolution remote spectroscopy for detection of biomarker gases, in situ demonstrations of energy utilization to performs functions such as anabolic or catabolic transformations, achievement of demonstrated reproduction through multi-condition incubations, and probes for macromolecular biochemicals which indicate information storage should be undertaken wherever possible, as should return of samples to terrestrial laboratories for more versatile, more sensitive and more definitive examinations. Use of control samples is paramount, as is detailed understanding of the chemistry and physics of the environment which constrains the activities and tracers being sought.

Planetary Protection: Two Relevant Terrestrial Examples
Authors: Chyba, C.

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #34, #03.09

Abstract
Concerns about potential pathogens in returned samples from Mars ("Mars Sample Return: Issues and Recommendations", National Research Council, 1997) or planetary satellites ("Evaluating the Biological Potential in Samples Returned from Planetary Satellites and Small Solar System Bodies", National Research Council, 1998) focus on two potential types of pathogenesis, toxic and infectious. The National Research Council reports cited above state that the chances of extraterrestrial organisms proving either toxic or infectious to humans are extremely low, but cannot be entirely ruled out. Here I discuss recently discovered terrestrial examples relevant to each possibility, in order to make these concerns concrete. The first example concerns the production of hepatotoxins (toxins affecting the liver) and neurotoxins by cyanobacteria in glacial lakes on alpine pastures in Switzerland. In this example, mat-forming benthic cyanobacteria are implicated in a hundred cattle poisonings that have been reported from alpine pasteurs in southeastern Switzerland over the past twenty-five years (e.g. K. Mez et al, Hydrobiologia 368, 1-15 (1998)). It is unlikely that these cyanobacteria evolved the toxins in response to dairy cows; rather the susceptibility of cattle to these toxins seems simply to be an unfortunate coincidence of a toxin working across a large evolutionary distance. The second example concerns the recent demonstration that the decimation of shallow-water Caribbean elkhorn coral is due to infection by a common fecal enterobacterium associated with the human gut (K. L. Patterson et al., PNAS 99, 8725-8730 (2002)). The bacterium, Serratia marcenscens, is also a free-living microbe in water and soil, as well as an opportunistic pathogen in a variety of animal species. The distance between humans and corals emphasizes the possibility that certain organisms may prove pathogenic across a wide evolutionary divide. Of course, in neither of these cases are the evolutionary distances crossed as large as those that would likely exist between any martian organisms and human beings. The possibility that life on the two worlds might share a common ancestor suggests that these distances may not be altogether incomparable, but this remains speculation pending further exploration. This work is supported in part by the NASA Exobiology Program and a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.

COSPAR's planetary protection policy: A consolidated draft
Authors: Rummel, J. D.; Stabekis, P. D.; Devincenzi, D. L.; Barengoltz, J. B.

Advances in Space Research, Volume 30, Issue 6, p. 1567-1571

Abstract
One of the duties of COSPAR's Panel on Planetary Protection is the development, maintenance, and promulgation of a planetary protection policy. Historically, COSPAR's policy has been maintained in a series of published papers and related Council resolutions, but a consolidated version of the COSPAR policy has not been available. This presentation consists of a draft version of the COSPAR policy as it currently stands, now placed into a single document. This document will form the basis from which it is anticipated that an updated policy will be crafted, and which, if accepted by the Panel, Bureau and Council, will form the basis for future policy deliberations and refinements.

Should keep you busy for awhile R.L. (not that you are genuinely interested of course)

BD