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If we want to search Mars for life before we contaminate it then we need to launch a crash program to do so now, because our window is swiftly expiring. Right n

If we want to search Mars for life before we contaminate it then we need to launch a crash program to do so now, because our window is swiftly expiring. Right now a small group with minimal resources (on the to build and launch stuff into space scale) could likely launch a cubesat with some sort of bacterial payload that would eventually get to Mars. Such a stunt is only going to get easier in the next few decades. Explore Mars, in depth, ASAP, or someone will render the issue moot by starting their own terraforming project on the cheap. (Or the not so cheap. I don't believe Musk's colonization plans -if they ever come to pass- would be able to prevent contamination, no matter how hard they might try.)

rev_bird 9y ago
>could likely launch a cubesat with some sort of bacterial payload that would eventually get to Mars Curious how this might work, given the energy required not only to escape Earth's orbit, but to get into another one around Mars and crash into it. It's my understanding that cubesats don't have anything that could do any of that stuff, and a larger craft doing the heavy lifting would be way more complicated.
- TeMPOraL 9y ago
  A solar sail and a bit of patience? It would take some serious engineering chops to pull it off, but it's not totally implausible.
  - rev_bird 9y ago
    Sorry, I realize now that I may have sounded sarcastic. I really was curious, this makes sense. Thanks for responding.
azernik 9y ago
They would have to get permission from the launching country, and that launch country would be obligated by the Outer Space Treaty to impose limits on contamination.
jvanderbot 9y ago
We have a big bucket of cash to do exactly that in the Mars2020 rover and other similar initiatives from other countries. It'll culminate with a cache of samples of martian soil returned to earth for experiments. I sincerely doubt anybody, regardless of money, could get a rover there sooner to find soil samples. Under works: Cliff climbing robots to look at ice and water flows, quads to survey large areas up close and quickly, and man more. It's progressing as fast as it can, but is often sidetracks by the whims of new administrations (moon! no, Mars! no, Moon!).

rev_bird 9y ago

>could likely launch a cubesat with some sort of bacterial payload that would eventually get to Mars Curious how this might work, given the energy required not only to escape Earth's orbit, but to get into another one around Mars and crash into it. It's my understanding that cubesats don't have anything that could do any of that stuff, and a larger craft doing the heavy lifting would be way more complicated.

TeMPOraL 9y ago
A solar sail and a bit of patience? It would take some serious engineering chops to pull it off, but it's not totally implausible.
- rev_bird 9y ago
  Sorry, I realize now that I may have sounded sarcastic. I really was curious, this makes sense. Thanks for responding.

azernik 9y ago

They would have to get permission from the launching country, and that launch country would be obligated by the Outer Space Treaty to impose limits on contamination.

jvanderbot 9y ago

We have a big bucket of cash to do exactly that in the Mars2020 rover and other similar initiatives from other countries. It'll culminate with a cache of samples of martian soil returned to earth for experiments. I sincerely doubt anybody, regardless of money, could get a rover there sooner to find soil samples. Under works: Cliff climbing robots to look at ice and water flows, quads to survey large areas up close and quickly, and man more. It's progressing as fast as it can, but is often sidetracks by the whims of new administrations (moon! no, Mars! no, Moon!).