Europa

[Eric Mc]

More evidence of water being jetted from beneath the surface of Europa. Makes sampling this water far easier than having to drill through the ice -

[RobM77]

I read about this yesterday. Fascinating. I'm quite hopeful that Europa or Enceladus may have bacterial life Time will tell!

[jmorgan]

Cassini is due for a fiery death next year to avoid contamination, lets hope the same reverence is given here with respects contamination.

[Eric Mc]

Respect where?

Cassini is plunging into Saturn's atmopshere - nothing to do with Europa.

[jmorgan]

Eric Mc said:

Respect where?

Cassini is plunging into Saturn's atmopshere - nothing to do with Europa.

Yep, but the idea when probes are sent. Obviously Titan has a lander, Mars is littered with the things but where there is the real prospect then leave well alone. Or do we mine the hell out of it?

[Eric Mc]

Those who design these probes do take all this into account and make great efforts to ensure craft are sterile before being launched into space. Of course, no one can be 100% certain that every single earth organism has been eliminated.

They also do their best to ensure that sensitive worlds, such as Enceladus, Europa and Titan are especially protected.

[Russian Rocket]

they "autoclaved" the viking landers to protect mars, although they seem to have been less fussy about subsequent landings

[Beati Dogu]

In the film Europa Report they found some rather interesting aliens already living there.

[Russian Rocket]

Arthur C Clarke beat them to it in 2010

[Sylvaforever]

looks like a fanciful solar hand grenade with the fuse burning..

[bony_13]

Genuine questions re contamination from a non-scientist.

Are the probes not exposed to over 100c whey they break through the atmosphere? (I know they are in an insulated payload of some kind but still imagined there to be a lot of heat involved).
Also, wouldn't the prolonged low temperatures and lack of atmosphere in space remove the change of even mirco-organisms surviving?

Sorry for if they are silly questions.

[Orchid1]

bony_13 said:

Genuine questions re contamination from a non-scientist.

Are the probes not exposed to over 100c whey they break through the atmosphere? (I know they are in an insulated payload of some kind but still imagined there to be a lot of heat involved).
Also, wouldn't the prolonged low temperatures and lack of atmosphere in space remove the change of even mirco-organisms surviving?

Sorry for if they are silly questions.

The microbes that started life on this planet would have also went through radiation and massive temperature changes so it's not so different I reckon.

If we did crash something there then who know maybe that would create life millions of years from now.

[Eric Mc]

bony_13 said:

Genuine questions re contamination from a non-scientist.

Are the probes not exposed to over 100c whey they break through the atmosphere? (I know they are in an insulated payload of some kind but still imagined there to be a lot of heat involved).
Also, wouldn't the prolonged low temperatures and lack of atmosphere in space remove the change of even mirco-organisms surviving?

Sorry for if they are silly questions.

Firstly, the probes are manufactured and assembled in ultra "white room" conditions to keep them as uncontaminated as possible

Secondly they are put through a sterilisation process before being mounted on top of the rocket

During launch they are protected within an aerodynamic shroud which should protect them from the forces and temperatures of launch. By the time they are travelling fast enough for any frictional heating to be generated, the vast bulk of the atmosphere is already below them, so aerodynamic heating on the way up is not that great.

Once in space and in transit to its destination, the probe will be exposed - sometimes for years - to the extreme heat and cold of deep space, plus radiation from the sun and intergalactic space - which is a very good sterilising set of conditions.

[SpudLink]

Forgive me for sticking my non scientific nose in, but are we certain the cold, vacuum and radiation will purge microbes from the probes we send to other bodies in our solar system? Obviously you can't believe everything that's in the press or even Radio 4, but there have been reports of things serviving, for example this ...
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/microbia...

[Eric Mc]

No - we aren't 100% sure. But we do our best to take the necessary precautions.

[jmorgan]

And yet we have a theory that life may exist on chunks of rock hurtling around the solar system.


That great doctor once said

It's life Jim, but not as we know it.

Bonus point for the song......

[Eric Mc]

We know of at least one hunk of rock that definitely DOES have life (as we know it too).