Mathematics – Logic
Scientific paper
Dec 2002
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002agufm.b71b0743r&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2002, abstract #B71B-0743
Mathematics
Logic
6218 Jovian Satellites, 6225 Mars
Scientific paper
We have yet to discover, much less characterize, all of the environments on Earth that support life. Not surprisingly, our ability to make general statements about the distribution and characteristics of life is limited, and inferences about life's origins--even on this planet--are circumscribed. The potential that there exist extraterrestrial habitats in which life may be found drives certain aspects of space exploration, and the identification of extraterrestrial environments in which Earth organisms could survive is one strategy in establishing the existence of life on other worlds. Hence, deficiencies in our knowledge about life's environments here limit our concepts of where to look for life outside of the Earth. But other factors also may limit our ability to learn general lessons about life as we identify and explore life's environments here and elsewhere. In particular, each separate living environment can be viewed as containing unique data about the capabilities, distribution, and origin of life--data that may be lost or destroyed by the introduction of biological contamination from other sites. This paper will address issues associated with avoiding such cross-contamination in solar system exploration, and while exploring restricted sites on Earth. While identifying specific sites of concern on other worlds, it will illustrate the role of experiments in synthetic environments in informing the precautions that must be taken to preserve the secrets of life that exploration seeks to uncover.
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