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If we find life on Enceladus that looks just like Earth life, the null hypothesis is that it came from Earth. That won't change, whether we crash a probe there
by mcbits 9y ago
If we find life on Enceladus that looks just like Earth life, the null hypothesis is that it came from Earth. That won't change, whether we crash a probe there or not. Finding extant life anywhere beyond Earth would still be a paradigm-shattering discovery, even if we must assume it arrived from Earth on a probe or ejecta.
The probe we send to test for life must, of course, be completely sterile to ensure it's not detecting its own hitchhikers.
- ceejayoz 9y ago> If we find life on Enceladus that looks just like Earth life, the null hypothesis is that it came from Earth. Sure, and ruling that out is easier if we can say for certain we didn't crash an old space probe nearby.
- mcbits 9y agoThe only way it would help is if we had some other way to rule out asteroid impact ejecta but not probe contamination. So we'd have: 1) Life on Enceladus that's 2) genetically indistinguishable from Earth life, which 3) we know didn't travel on a rock, but 4) could have travelled on a probe. We're getting into teapot-orbiting-Mars territory.