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TECH SPACE
Keep It Clean Says NASA
The Aerospace Corporation has landed a follow-on effort with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to continue researching the effectiveness of spacecraft cleaning methods used by NASA in missions to planets and moons that could harbor life. A second $50,000 task came to Aerospace as a result of successful research in the same area that was completed for JPL in October 2000. "Sterilization of spacecraft is very important for NASA missions to planets and moons that could potentially harbor life," explained Dr. Carl Palko, a project engineer involved in the research. "Outbound sterilization and cleaning is important to prevent both the accidental contamination or infection of alien worlds with terrestrial organisms and the accidental contamination of extraterrestrial soil or ice samples being returned to Earth with terrestrial organisms that could be mistaken as evidence for alien life," Palko said. The original effort focused on developing technologies to achieve sterilization through a cleaning process in which all organisms were removed. The work involved three areas: characterization of spacecraft materials, characterization of spacecraft cleaning methods, and experimental investigations into contaminated surfaces.
Hardy Spores "If the igloo-like structures on the inoculated aluminum really contain spores, it could seriously affect efforts to clean spacecraft to a level of sterility. The preliminary results of Aerospace and JPL experiments indicate that the domes may indeed contain spores, but further investigation is needed," he said. The follow-on effort will continue research in this area and will combine the three task areas into a single investigation to measure the effectiveness of the cleaning method on selected spacecraft materials. Related Links Aerospace Corporation SpaceDaily Search SpaceDaily Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express 
Prepare Now For Martian Samples Warns Scientists
Washington - May 29, 2001Work on a quarantine facility must begin soon if it is to be ready in time for spacecraft returning to Earth with martian rocks and soil in tow, says a new report from the National Academies' National Research Council. Mars Invades Earth 
Cameron Park - June 4, 2001In the wake of the latest report on preparing for samples from Mars, the old arguments for and against have again taken center stage in this perennial debate. The basic argument against returning Mars samples is that the chances that "extant" (that is, still-living) microbes still exist on Mars are higher than NASA is making out, and that there is a genuine and serious chance that such microbes might prove harmful to Earth's biosphere -- and perhaps to human beings themselves. But how accurate is this?
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