http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1002,53%257E287926,00.html NASA weighs plans to grab Mars samples By Ann Schrader Denver Post December 23, 2001 The prospect of bringing home Martian soil and small rocks - the whole sample not weighing more than a half-sack of flour - puts a gleam in scientists' eyes. Martian meteorites found on Earth, surface scrutiny from the sky and up-close eyeballing by rovers give clues about the Red Planet's evolution. But scientists say there's nothing quite like getting their hands on samples collected from a few choice locations. "A sample return is so fundamentally important for improving our understanding of Mars," said Bruce Jakosky, a University of Colorado planetary scientist. "It is truly the next step for understanding possible life, history of the atmosphere, the surface and the interior." Jakosky added, "It's not cheap, but it's doable." Ten years ago, NASA dreamed up a plan with a $5 billion price tag. Sticker shock canned that scheme. About two years ago, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., drew up a $1.5 billion proposal with international partners. A Mars exploration program revamped in 2000 puts the earliest possible launch of a sample return mission to 2011. Whenever it happens and whatever the cost, it's not going to be easy. There are rovers to be designed and decisions to be made on the most promising landing sites. Looming large is the specter of making sure we don't send Earth "bugs" to Mars, and making sure "bugs" from Mars don't take up residence here. Risk of an alien organism invasion "is not zero," according to a report issued five years ago by a national space board that included several Coloradans. The possibility, said Jakosky, who served on the board, "is incredibly unlikely." But with the Earth's biosphere in the balance, "we have to treat the samples as hazardous unless proven otherwise." Moon rocks brought back during the Apollo program were poorly handled, being handed out for study with few constraints. Scientists did better with the Viking landers in 1976. "The life-detection experiments didn't detect anything, but they did detect the solvents use to clean the landers," Jakosky said. Last spring, the National Academies' National Research Council urged that preparations begin soon for a quarantine facility to house the Martian samples. The report noted that a facility could take at least seven years to design, build and test. Suggested sites include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases in Fort Detrick, Md., or a facility planned by the University of Texas at Galveston. NASA has given $1 million each to four companies to brainstorm sample-return scenarios. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Inc. and Lockheed Martin Astronautics, both in Colorado, and TRW and Boeing Co., both in California, submitted proposals in October. This spring, NASA is expected to select one or more of the proposals for further study. Show your support at the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund - http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/ts/my-pay-page/PKAXFNQH7EKCX/058-5084202-7156648 _______________________________________________ Meteorite-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
