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Is there a protocol for looking for life in an environment like Enceladus that would sufficiently guarantee sterility of the probe? It seems that guaranteeing
by crusso 9y ago
Is there a protocol for looking for life in an environment like Enceladus that would sufficiently guarantee sterility of the probe?
It seems that guaranteeing sterility would be sufficiently impossible to render Enceladus permanently unapproachable.
- saagarjha 9y agoThere's a job at NASA for that. It's called the Planetary Protection Office: https://planetaryprotection.nasa.gov https://planetaryprotection.nasa.gov (relevant xkcd what-if: https://what-if.xkcd.com/117/ https://what-if.xkcd.com/117/)
- alex_duf 9y agoI don't think you can guarantee the sterility of an object. You can make it likely though.