[X] My Assistant

[Guest_BruceMoomaw_*]

http://mepag.jpl.nasa.gov/reports/Draft_SR-SAG_v25.doc

Ironically, because I don't have the "graphics conversion filter" for Wordpad, I can't read their definition directly -- but Table 9.1, near the end of the article, makes it clear:
____________________________________________

Classification of Martian environments by their potential to exceed the threshold conditions in temperature and water activity for microbial propagation (within the boundary conditions of the analysis):

A. Observed features for which there is a significant (but still unknown) probability of association with modern liquid water:

1 -- Recent gullies and gully-forming regions
2 -- Mid-latitude “pasted-on” terrain

B. Observed features for which there is a low, but non-zero, probability of a relationship to modern liquid water:

3 -- Low-latitude slope streaks
4 -- Low-latitude features hypothesized to be glaciers

C. Not known to exist, but if examples could be found, would have a high probability of association with modern liquid water:

5 -- Volcanic environments young enough to retain heat
6 -- Impact environments young enough and large enough to retain heat
7 -- Modern outflow channels

"Of these, only the mid-latitude pasted-on terrain and the gully-forming regions are thought to be of high enough concern for exceeding the threshold conditions during the next 100 years that the SR-SAG believes they should be treated as special regions for the purposes of planetary protection... The gullies and pasted-on terrain both occur at middle latitudes."

[djellison]

Here's the problem that I think Bruce and I have discussed elsewhere....

To be sure of no risk to the earth or life thereon, there must be a 100% guarentee that any Martian samples are free of biological material....

To do that, one has to establish that Mars is entirely free of life....which is basically an impossible thing to do without getting some samples on the ground to look at with all our best instruments.

So we can't find out if the samples would be safe to have on Earth until we get them on Earth and find out if it was safe to bring them down to Earth or not....see the problem

Doug