This is not the first time that living samples have been sent into space. The joint Soviet-US Bion missions (e.g., Bion 3, aboard Cosmos 782) of the 1970′s carried a variety of biological specimens into space (including large numbers of unrestrained rats) to test their ability to survive and function under great accelerative forces, radiation exposure, and micro-gravity. Experiments with living cells have also been conducted (in the 1990′s) on board the International Space Station (in which cultured human tissue cells failed to properly develop vital, microtubule “skeletons”).
Many space scientists and astrobiologists have expressed concern over LIFE, wondering why we would risk sending microbes to another planetary body. They feel that the Phobos mission brings this experiment a little too close to Mars; the moon is only 6000 ms/9000 km from the red planet, which does have an atmosphere, potentially capable of supporting life. They further criticize the LIFE experiment by claiming that it will add nothing new to our understanding of the origin of living organisms.
Phobos is an irregularly shaped, asteroid-like moon, with little reflectivity, and is considerably lighter than most moons. It is a decidedly inhospitable body. There is, however, the small possibility of a mishap–perhaps a crash landing–that damages the titanium disc and releases the microbes and other samples into/onto the Phobos landscape, contaminating it somehow. This scenario is considered unlikely, as Phobos is considered a “sterile” body–having no atmosphere and fully exposed to the harsh conditions of space. Further, the experiment satisfies international prohibitions against contaminating Mars, and, as long as the mission planners at Roscosmos provide all the flight calculations confirming that Phobos-Grunt will reach only as far as Phobos, the mission will most likely proceed.
Still, these are “extremophillic” organisms–specifically chosen for their ability to withstand and survive in harsh environments. And, as any observer of space missions knows, nothing is absolute or certain in space exploration. The proposed Phobos-Grunt mission will land on Phobos, collect rock and soil samples, and return, with its LIFE samples, to Earth in 2012 (lasting a total of 34 months). The mission is slated to be launched sometime next year.
photo credits: (top) NASA, (middle) The Planetary Society
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About Michael Ricciardi
That is so not a good idea, we shouldnt do that until we are sure that there is no life on phobos or any other place they decide to send bacteria to… remember how back in the 1600 we helped rats(and other non-indigenous animals) spread all over the world and kill the the native species…
Wakaa,
Humans!?
We are in a overpopulated world! You didn’t receive the memo but the more people die the better.
Seriously! It’s not a conspirator theory. It’s for real. Just take a look at what US is doing to their own citizens. Health, selling medications that makes people more sick, is the 3rd source of money in UK, as the UK Parliament has already claimed in the review “The Influence of Pharmaceutical Industry”, 2005.
What about the health insurance in US? Medicaid, Medcare?
30.000 Americans… who cares? LOL
(this is slightly off topic , but…)
It may not be conspiratorial, but it is still the product of conspiratorial propaganda–especially when only one side of an issue is presented.
Yes, some drugs were rushed to marketplace (to be expected when we allow the clinical trial and revieww period to be shortened by almost two thirds!), before the effects were known (greed), or, rushed to the market after suppressing known risks (malfeasance)…but many drugs, pharmaceuticals, do in fact help people, many of them with slightly to significantly more than placebo response outcomes….but they don’t work for everyone…plus, we are condition to believe in the ‘magic pill’ concept (part of the placebo effect, btw)…
….the world would not be ‘over-populated’ as you say if there was much less waste, and less unequal distribution of energy. For the amount of raw materials and energy Americans consume (32 times more than a typical African villager), and the amount of waste we generate (Eurpoeans have comparable consumption rates)…WE are over-populated….does your insoucient attitude towards over-population die-offs extend to Americans and Europeans…
As far as the actual topic goes, I am ambivalent about this…Russian right now seems to be intent on taking bold steps in its Space Program (such as new targeting an asteroid (that will come within 300, 00 miles of EArth) to be destoyed in space…maybe its just to make the West a bit skittish (pushing ouor space buttons, as it were)…but their programs have always been daring or ‘pushing the envelope’ in some way…
I would say that something like this should be put to a “world vote”…bu then, if we did that with every space mission, I fear little spce science would evr get done.
Well I believe if we are going to ever be able to leave this planet and sustain a livable substitute to earth; then why not put microbes on other planets. They can do more transforming in a few decades then we could do in centuries. They could turn a cold planet like Mars into a habitability world once again. They can thrive off the martian landscape and pump trillions of tons or oxygen into the atmosphere in turn heating the planet significantly. Yes they might interfere with life that might be on the planer, they might also make it flourish. Who is to say if we don’t try.