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I'm ignorant on this. Say we send humans or a probe to Mars, how would they confidently conclude something under a microscope wasn't brought by humans unless i

I'm ignorant on this. Say we send humans or a probe to Mars, how would they confidently conclude something under a microscope wasn't brought by humans unless it's like super foreign/alien/obvious?

_Microft 5y ago
If we go to the considerable length of sending actual human researchers to Mars, we shouldn't cheap out on equipment: mass-spectroscopes, microscopes, electron microscopes, ... you name it. That would give us lots of opportunity to examine samples and compare that to what we know from Earth. That's assuming that we are not contrained by mass or volume on the mission which seems reasonable with a SpaceX Starship-style mission because if we were then we shouldn't be sending humans at all imo.
ISL 5y ago
Landers are generally sterilized to avoid precisely that contamination: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_protection https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_protection (This strategy works until a human arrives. Once humans are there, we'll be bringing with us all of our microbiotic friends.)
- johnchristopher 5y ago
  You mean once our microbiotic overlords land on Mars, clad in their humane scaphander?
  - WORMS_EAT_WORMS 5y ago
    Okay, this made me laugh... In all seriousness, I know this was in jest, but I think this is actually still on topic and applies to the bigger discussion of our mission in finding and understanding what the heck life really is. So upvote.
jboggan 5y ago
Sequencers are the size of a USB stick now, so they could obtain a sample and attempt to read the genetic code. If it is a branch related to an Earth species it will show up easily in a BLAST search. If it won't sequence because it isn't using DNA then that is even more conclusive.
- highenergystar 5y ago
  Are there really sequencers the size of a USB stick? A google search didn't show any, could you point me to a source?
  - jboggan 5y ago
    Not the exact one I was thinking of from a few years ago but the form factor is basically there. https://nanoporetech.com/products/minion https://nanoporetech.com/products/minion
  - floxy 5y ago
    https://nanoporetech.com/products/smidgion https://nanoporetech.com/products/smidgion
  - JPLeRouzic 5y ago
    I think they are referring to; https://store.nanoporetech.com/us/configure-minion-enhanced/ https://store.nanoporetech.com/us/configure-minion-enhanced/

I'm ignorant on this. Say we send humans or a probe to Mars, how would they confidently conclude something under a microscope wasn't brought by humans unless it's like super foreign/alien/obvious?

_Microft 5y ago

If we go to the considerable length of sending actual human researchers to Mars, we shouldn't cheap out on equipment: mass-spectroscopes, microscopes, electron microscopes, ... you name it. That would give us lots of opportunity to examine samples and compare that to what we know from Earth. That's assuming that we are not contrained by mass or volume on the mission which seems reasonable with a SpaceX Starship-style mission because if we were then we shouldn't be sending humans at all imo.

ISL 5y ago

Landers are generally sterilized to avoid precisely that contamination: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_protection https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_protection (This strategy works until a human arrives. Once humans are there, we'll be bringing with us all of our microbiotic friends.)

johnchristopher 5y ago
You mean once our microbiotic overlords land on Mars, clad in their humane scaphander?
- WORMS_EAT_WORMS 5y ago
  Okay, this made me laugh... In all seriousness, I know this was in jest, but I think this is actually still on topic and applies to the bigger discussion of our mission in finding and understanding what the heck life really is. So upvote.

jboggan 5y ago

Sequencers are the size of a USB stick now, so they could obtain a sample and attempt to read the genetic code. If it is a branch related to an Earth species it will show up easily in a BLAST search. If it won't sequence because it isn't using DNA then that is even more conclusive.

highenergystar 5y ago
Are there really sequencers the size of a USB stick? A google search didn't show any, could you point me to a source?
- jboggan 5y ago
  Not the exact one I was thinking of from a few years ago but the form factor is basically there. https://nanoporetech.com/products/minion https://nanoporetech.com/products/minion
- floxy 5y ago
  https://nanoporetech.com/products/smidgion https://nanoporetech.com/products/smidgion
- JPLeRouzic 5y ago
  I think they are referring to; https://store.nanoporetech.com/us/configure-minion-enhanced/ https://store.nanoporetech.com/us/configure-minion-enhanced/