Forward-contamination
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Forward-contamination is the contamination of other worlds with Terrestrial microbes. The risk of forward-contamination is twofold: that human beings may accidentally seed a previously sterile world, thus creating "extraterrestrials" that are really of terrestrial origin (and which might even make it impossible to determine whether the life later found is terrestric or local); or that an actual alien biosphere could be devastated by Earth's bacteria.
Forward-contamination may have been demonstrated by the apparent survival on the Moon of Streptococcus bacteria on Surveyor 3, which is however the subject of some debate (see Reports of Streptococcus mitis on the moon). Laboratory tests indicate that forward-contaminant DNA can persist for considerable periods of time at the Martian surface, particularly if shielded from solar radiation.[1]
Given the impossibility of sending a bacteria-free human being into space, forward-contamination will remain an issue for as long as manned missions continue. Assuming a manned mission eventually reaches Mars, for example, it is inevitable that a microbial soup will be released into the environment of the red planet.
[edit] See also
- Astrobiology
- Back-contamination
- Living Interplanetary Flight Experiment
- Planetary protection
- Extraterrestrial life
- Panspermia
[edit] References
- ^ Assessment of DNA damages caused by exposure of bacterial cells and spores to the Mars surface environment. (38th COSPAR Scientific Assembly. Held 18–15 July 2010, in Bremen, Germany)
