From: henry@spsystems.net   
      
   In article <5dcb47db.0401120422.7a780dba@posting.google.com>,   
   Mike Miller  wrote:   
   >No. Mars has already been biocontaminated. I think the Russians didn't   
   >bother to decontaminate their 1971 lander and I don't think the   
   >Vikings were held to exacting standards of decontamination, either.   
      
   Sorry, wrong:  the Viking landers were quite carefully sterilized, and if   
   memory serves, the Russians made at least some attempt to sterilize their   
   landers too.   
      
   More recent landers, e.g. Mars Pathfinder, generally have *not* been   
   sterilized, because it is now fairly certain that conditions on the   
   Martian surface are so hostile that it's virtually impossible for Earth   
   organisms to survive and spread.  Attempts are still made to reduce the   
   "biological load" carried, e.g. by careful cleaning, to minimize possible   
   interference with future life-detection experiments.  (And of course, any   
   probe which carries life-detection experiments -- as Beagle 2 did -- must   
   be sterilized to avoid false alarms.)   
   --   
   MOST launched 30 June; science observations running     |   Henry Spencer   
   since Oct; first surprises seen; papers pending.        | henry@spsystems.net   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)