Leading Scientists now "assume" that there is life on Mars!!!!

an except

"Jeffrey Kargel of the US Geological Survey said that protection of our own planet from alien forms of life requires the assumption that Martian life exists. �Before proceeding with sample returns or human missions to Mars, we must review measures for planetary biological protection.�

His warning appears in Science magazine in an article accompanying the first formal publication of the mass of data from Opportunity, which continues to operate on the Martian surface.

The search for life on Mars, now more than a century old, is still not finally resolved. But the odds that life existed there and may still exist are shortening, according to planetary experts, Dr Kargel said. "

So, while they're making the assumption as a precaution, its still quite an announcment since it comes after they've crunched the data. On the other hand, can you imagine some virus on Mars making it back to Earth? Completely alien, completely unimpaired by our immune system. Maybe we should examine returning probes from Mars at the Space Station before it is allowed to return to Earth?

I'm pretty sure that decontamination has always been a planned factor... Lifeforms such as viruses, bacteria, etc. can exist in plenty of places normally inhospitable to other life...so it makes sense. Still, it is encouraging...

Remember that the astronauts returning fromthe first couple of Moon missions in 1969 and 1970 were in isolation for a week or two, on the off chance that they might've brought back some Moon bugs with them, too.

A scientist making an assumption of life on Mars doesn't necessarily mean that he believes it's likely -- just remotely possible. Better to be safe than sorry and all that....

That said, I think it'd be incredibly exciting if we do find life there, even if it's just a virus!

Originally posted by jukyu
Completely alien, completely unimpaired by our immune system.

Conversly, it would also be completely defenseless against the various earth microbes. Infact, there isn't any reason to think it'd be at all 'compatible' with earthly organisms.

Maybe we should examine returning probes from Mars at the Space Station before it is allowed to return to Earth?

Actually they are, moreso, they are decontaminated before being sent to other planets, so as not to do the reverse to those planets. Imagine an alien probe landing on earth to find out about everything there, and everythign or thousands dying from some microbe it carried?

Also, considering that there are organisms that can survive the radiation of space (and by extension might exist in interplanetary -space-) theres a danger of a clean satellite drawing space microbes onto a planet.

I dont quite understand the logic here, any viruses/bacteria evolved on mars will be totally alien to humans, so far we've never been there for them to evolve for us to carry as hosts. They would either be instantly killed in the new alien environment of earth or they would be quite harmless.

Originally posted by picard_is_actually_a_grey
I dont quite understand the logic here, any viruses/bacteria evolved on mars will be totally alien to humans, so far we've never been there for them to evolve for us to carry as hosts. They would either be instantly killed in the new alien environment of earth or they would be quite harmless.

I agree. But I actually think that life forms on Mars and any other part of the solar system may not be as "alien" as we think. They may be based on a DNA structure very similar to ours.