Any NASA spacecraft bound for any planet in the Solar System goes through some serious de-germ-ifying before it launches. The last thing we Earthers wanna do is dump a load of our microbes all over a planet that MIGHT be hosting the answer the Really Big Question: is our world the only life-bearing rock in the universe?
So, Spaceship-building super-dude Elon Musk is in a hurry to hurl his gorgeously retro-sci-fi-looking Starships hither and yon from here to the Oort Cloud. Main exo-target in his sights is Mars. His goal: make humanity a two-planet civilization before bone-headed humans or a rogue asteroid/comet or the zombie apocalypse destroys our comfy, wet, warm, one and only home. But Elon doesn’t think planetary protection protocols are really much of thing to worry about re: the Red Planet. Mars is a cold, irradiated, life-unfriendly world, he says. Any microbial life could only survive deep underground. Don’t worry – be Musky, he says. Others have other stuff to say about whether we should be concerned about skewing any life-type discoveries made amid the ancient sands of Barsoom. (What? Not a John Carter fan? Shame.)
In any case, here’s what the hive-mind over at Reddit thinks. Food for thought, Earthers….