Italian magazine claims Phoenix contaminated Mars with terrestrial bacteria |
Italian magazine claims Phoenix contaminated Mars with terrestrial bacteria |
Sep 1 2008, 05:04 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 109 Joined: 20-January 07 From: Milano, ITALY Member No.: 1633 |
I have just read a short story by Alex Saragosa published on issue 1067 (29 Aug 2008, pag. 61) of the italian magazine "il venerdì", a Friday supplement of the major national newspaper la repubblica. The story, titled "I batteri terrestri hanno invaso il pianeta rosso" (terrestrial bacteria have invaded the red planet), claims a group of JPL bilogists analyzed samples from the room where Phoenix was assembled and found 26,000 bacterial cells per square meter from 100 different species, including highly radiation resistant Bacillus pumilis. According to the story, these bacteria may have survived the trip to Mars.
I have never heard anything similar from reliable sources (i.e. anything but la Repubblica) . Any info? Paolo Amoroso -------------------- Avventure Planetarie - Blog sulla comunicazione e divulgazione scientifica
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Sep 9 2008, 08:12 PM
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Senior Member Group: Moderator Posts: 2785 Joined: 10-November 06 From: Pasadena, CA Member No.: 1345 |
I realize I'm treading a thin line here, but this article was just too interesting and relevant to the discussion to pass up:
According to the article, some tardigrades (water bear) exposed to vacuum, cosmic radiation, and UV radiatoin in a low orbiting satellite survived and were able to reproduce on return to Earth. So, yeah, transfer, survival in space, and reproduction if the right niche were found, is possible at least for these critters. -Mike -------------------- Some higher resolution images available at my photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31678681@N07/
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