(OT) Possible extra-solar planet

[Jürgen Hubert]

Here's another possibility for renewed interest in a space program:

Let's say the Chinese push their own space program further and announce their intention to start a manned mission to Mars.

What happens after that is a good, old-fashioned space race. After all, we all know that the best rocket fuel there is is pure American ego.

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

I wonder how many people have considered just how dangerous a manned mission (or any mission in which material was returned to Earth) to Mars would be?

If there is microbiological life on Mars, and if it is lying dormant in a deep-freeze, and if this life is brought back to Earth and revived, nothing on this world has any immunity to it.
After all, nothing on this world has been exposed to it, to gain any immunity, since it has sat on another world for hundreds of millions of years.

This is true for any attempt to colonize Mars.
The colonists have no immunity to any of the native microbes, should they be exposed.

The reverse applies, as well.
Nothing on Mars that yet lives has any immunity to Terran microbes.
Thus, we pollute the world of Mars with our bacteria and viruses, when we set down on the planet and begin colonizing it.

Of course, Mars is so cold that normal bacterial processes are impossible, except during the day in the summer, if then.
The thin atmosphere of Mars renders normal breathing impossible, and Mars lacks a magnetosphere, so it is exposed full on to the Solar Wind. Space suits are a requirement on Mars.
So, under current conditions perhaps Mars is not in much danger of Terran contamination.
However, here on Earth it is warm, there is an atmosphere, and there is a magnetosphere.
Methinks that if it was once active on Mars, said microscopic life will unfreeze and resume normal activities here, on this planet.

(chuckles)

Perhaps there is much more to be found on Mars than meets the eye.
Several hundred million years of erosion is quite enough to wipe out all surface traces of life and civilization.
But what about what lies deep under the surface?

 

[Number47]

Actually, barring extraordinary misfortune, there would be little to fear from extraterrestrial microbes. The processes that bacteria and viruses use to infect us are built up by evolution. The bugs have to continually evolve or our immune systems win out against them. Extraterrestrial bugs have no evolutionary standpoint for being virulent or deadly. If a Mars bug infected you, you would probably get the sniffles, then have immunity to that bug.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Actually, barring extraordinary misfortune, there would be little to fear from extraterrestrial microbes. The processes that bacteria and viruses use to infect us are built up by evolution. The bugs have to continually evolve or our immune systems win out against them. Extraterrestrial bugs have no evolutionary standpoint for being virulent or deadly. If a Mars bug infected you, you would probably get the sniffles, then have immunity to that bug.

Actually, there's no reason why you would even get the sniffles. The common cold is an extremely virulent infection that has perfected invading the human body. Martian microbes wouldn't even get close to that...

 

[Fast Learner]

Precisely. Unless we on Earth originally evolved from some kind of microbe splashed up off the surface of Mars (a reasonable -- but not necessarily likely -- theory held by some scientists), there's no reason such life would even consider us edible or hospitable. Assuming it's carbon-based life, it still would have no natural ability to have any chance of locking into or attacking any Terran proteins or anything else. The risk is extremely low of any kind of problem occuring.

 

[Nifft]

Feh, you discount the fact that the Martian microbes were deliberately planted by the Fungi from Beyond Pluto with the purpose of specifically turning Humans into suitable host-bodies and food.

"The truth is out there -- and it's reading How to Serve Man."

-- Nifft

 

[Number47]

It's a cookbook!

 

[Zappo]

If they would have Gnomes, I'd vote for sterilisation of that world if posible... or just hope they never ever get to learn about our existance..... gnomes scorned.. *shrug*

Could be worse. Could be kender.

 

[William Ronald]

Of some interest to NASA and space explorers is Europa, a moon of Jupiter. Covered in a thick sheet of ice, it has an ocean beneath the surface. (The heat comes from the gravitational pull of Jupiter.) Some scientist think that it may have life and could be a much better prospect for life than Mars.

There are plans in the works for a probe to go to Europa, and burrow into the ice. Mind you, it would take some time before the probe could be built. (And with the process of budget cuts, perhaps longer.)

Of course, once someone starts using natural resources in space for commercial purposes, there might be more interest. Remember, a lot of exploration on Earth came about because of commercial interests. (Never underestimate the desire of people to make money.)

 

[s/LaSH]

Commercial interest is the likeliest way to increase space awareness, or at least activity. It's not glamorous, but civilian projects are definitely getting there; there are prizes on the line for the first person to take tourists into orbit and stuff like that. Having studied aviation, I know that similar prizes were the incentive for things like flying across the English Channel.

In fact, John Carmack, the lead programmer at ID (who did Doom, Quake and, um, other games with Doom and Quake in the titles), recently said that, for less money than he'd spent on Ferrarris in the 1990s, he could be running a space program.

But besides the gee-whiz factor, cold hard cash is actually pretty attractive. I believe that a mile-long asteroid towed into Earth orbit would provide a boost to the planetary economy on an order of trillions of US dollars, no matter whether it was metallic or 'slushy'.

However, while the US still leads the world in governmental space flight, other nations and alliances are catching up. Europe, Japan, and China are all putting rockets into space, and Russia is quite a contender (in fact, look at their successful tourist policy). This competition will probably see rivalry pushing off a new space race sometime in the next fifty years. (I hear NASA wants a man on Mars by 2030...)

Looking further ahead, in 50 years the planetary population will be approaching 20 thousand million (12 billion by 2030). One of my favourite scenarios is the creation of terraformed exodus planets connected to Earth by quantum wormhole gateways... but that's a little more advanced. Anyway, in fifty years humans will be clamouring for a new place to live. Will we see war, or expansion? All very useful things to consider.

Plus it creates an interesting paradigm for near-future campaign settings. We will have laser guns in 2050 (heck, look at the contemporary American humvee-mounted Zeus laser system and British tank-mounted energy armour systems), but I suspect most people will still be using tech out of d20 Modern...