Page 32 - April-May 2020 Neat

32 Coronavirus and Samples from Mars

What can the coronavirus

outbreak teach us about
bringing Mars samples

back to Earth?

By Leonard David

A new virus called SARS-CoV-2 is a
coronavirus that has caused an outbreak of a
disease called COVID-19.

Public health groups, such as the World Health
Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, are still learning about
the virus, monitoring the disease it causes, and
researching potential ways to stop it. You can
read all about the coronavirus and COVID-19 at
our sibling site, LiveScience.

But me being me, my mind went straight to
Mars. I have long been aware of science fiction's
vision of Earth receiving space souvenirs that
carry organisms that might be dangerous to
Earth's fragile biosphere — that's me, and you,
too! Such arrivals could be accidental, or they
could be purposeful.
coronavirus," John Rummel, a senior scientist at coronavirus situation pops up, then any other
the SETI Institute in California and NASA's containment facility may not be available in a
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump's budget
planetary protection officer from 1986 to 1993 timely way, and may not be able to meet the
request for NASA supports the development of
and 1997 to 2006, told Space.com. cleanliness requirements that will ensure that
the Mars sample return mission, a robotic
any organisms discovered in the sample came
program that would haul back the goods from
For example, the diagnostic tests available for from Mars, and not from Earth after the sample
the Red Planet.
coronavirus right now aren't perfectly accurate, arrives.
and it can take more than a week after infection
What if such samples turned out to be
for symptoms to develop. And while a terrestrial Precautionary steps
dangerous, and contagiously so? Are there some
infection might be limited by the change of
Mars-oriented lessons to be learned from
seasons, that wouldn't necessarily hold true for a Is the emergence of a new epidemic here on our
COVID-19 and other major infectious diseases?
foreign disease vector. planet a cue about taking precautionary steps
regarding planetary protection?
In 1973, Carl Sagan published "The Cosmic
"I think that the challenge for a Mars sample
Connection — An Extraterrestrial Perspective,"
return activity is to be open about precautions Catharine Conley was NASA's planetary
offering this view of Martian pathogens:
taken in the face of ignorance," Rummel said, protection officer from 2006 until November
"which is what we have … when we discuss life 2017. "As with historical infectious disease
"Precisely because Mars is an environment of
on Mars." epidemics, the coronavirus that's spreading
great potential biological interest, it is possible
currently is another example of why it's so
that on Mars there are pathogens, organisms
Schools of thought important to understand the consequences of
which, if transported to the terrestrial
interacting with environments humans rarely
environment, might do enormous biological
Scientists have various schools of thought on contact and then distributing widely whatever
damage — a Martian plague, the twist in the plot
hauling Mars samples back to our planet, [they] picked up," she said.
of H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds, but in reverse.
Rummel said. But the planned, precautionary
This is an extremely grave point. On the one
approach, based on strict containment and "In the case of Mars exploration, it's most likely
hand, we can argue that Martian organisms
testing for life and biohazards, is compatible that Earth organisms transported to Mars could
cannot cause any serious problems to terrestrial
with the potential to discover life in a sample, or cause problems for future inhabitants," Conley
organisms, because there has been no biological
elsewhere on Mars by other means, as it would said. "If Mars life exists and is brought to Earth,
contact for 4.5 billion years between Martian
still allow for a sample to be returned. it's more likely to cause effects on the
and terrestrial organisms. On the other hand, we
environment, like the algae recently found to be
can argue equally well that terrestrial organisms
"If one finds life in the sample, one has a good warming the ice in Greenland, than that it would
have evolved no defenses against potential
chance of being able to study it in containment," be a virulent human pathogen."
Martian pathogens, precisely because there has
Rummel said. "The downside of this approach is
been no such contact for 4.5 billion years. The
that it is more expensive [in terms of However, if Mars life is related to terrestrial life,
chance of such an infection may be very small,
establishing the containment facility], up-front, Conley said, "that makes it much harder to
but the hazards, if it occurs, are certainly very
than ignoring life on Mars." distinguish from Earth contamination — and
high."
also, just like diseases that jump species, more
As the recent report to NASA from the Planetary likely to affect us, too." []
Concern and ignorance Protection Independent Review Board stated,
this approach requires that a sample-handling
What might happen if such an infection does facility dedicated to analyzing and testing STAY SAFE, STAY HEALTHY, STAY
occur? "I think that it might be instructive to Martian samples be developed up-front. HOME
consider the climate of concern that FOLLOWING SOCIAL DISTANCING
accompanies the current situation with Rummel said that, if something like the RULES