Martian rocks could be locked down in quarantine on the moon to prevent them from contaminating Earth and creating a War of the Worlds-style disaster, an expert has claimed.
Interplanetary infection is a major concern for ongoing space exploration, and all avenues are being investigated to ensure both Earth and Mars remain clean.
Storing Martian rocks on the moon is being looked at as a potential solution as it would prevent the creation of a direct path to Earth’s fragile ecosystems.
This 150,000-mile (400,000-km) barrier would present its own issues, scientists acknowledge, but could offer invaluable protection to life on Earth.
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The Mars 2020 Rover is undergoing tests (pictured) at the Airbus base in Stevenage to ensure it is able to spot and collect the sample tubes if they get blown around or buried on the Martian surface
Martian rocks could be locked down in quarantine on the moon to avoid a war of the Worlds style disaster, experts have warned
NASA and ESA are working together on the Mars2020 project which which will see two rovers roaming the red planet in search of alien life, among other goals.
Adam Camilletti, of the Mars Sample Return Programme, told The Telegraph: ‘This is the most complicated mission we’ve ever had to do, by a long way, because you’ve got multiple launches, multiple spacecrafts, it’s inter-agency, you’ve got two rovers.’
The complex mission will see the machines take samples of Martian dust in space-proof test tubes and bring them back to Earth.
Experts are worried about potential devastation to our own planet however, if the system fails and Martian microbes are released in Earth’s atmosphere.
As well as widespread worry about our home planet, ongoing discussions will ensure the mission doesn’t damage our neighbour, which we one day hope to colonise.
‘When we take something to Mars we mustn’t corrupt the Martian ecosystem, there are very strict rules and regulations, Mr Camilletti said.
‘But when you’ve got a return to Earth you’ve got the added concern that you don’t want to bring back any possible Martian life back to Earth, in a sort of War of the World’s style.
‘So there mustn’t be a direct path by which Martian material could enter the terrestrial ecosystem. There is some speculation about returning it to the Moon, whether that would be better.
‘If you can pick it up away from the Earth, it gets rid of your concerns about contamination, as you’ve got 400,000km barrier, so there is some sense to doing that. It’s an additional level of return capture, but it has been discussed.’
The two rovers from NASA and ESA will launch in mid 2021 and 2026, respectively.
NASA’s Mars 2020 rover will take the samples after trundling around the Jezero crater, which was home to a lake 3.5 billion years ago and is littered with carbonates and hydrated silica.
Critics have raised concerns that storms on the surface of Mars could pose a serious threat to the tubes, either covering them in sand or blowing them into deep crevasses. To prepare for just such an eventuality, Airbus engineers in the UK have been testing the vision of the apparatus that will go to space (pictures, the robot in its testing environment with with Adam Camilletti)
Experts are worried about potential devastation to our own planet if the system fails on reentry to Earth’s atmosphere and Martian microbes are released in Earth’s atmosphere
NASA’s Mars 2020 rover (pictured) will take the samples after trundling around the Jezero crater and will launch in mid 2021.
ESA’s ExoMoon rover (pictured) to collect the tubes and return them home, via a landing in the Utah desert sometime in the early 2030s
After sealing the tubes with the precious terrain trapped inside, it is then up to the ESA’s ExoMoon rover to collect the tubes and return them home, via a landing in the Utah desert sometime in the early 2030s.
Whether there will be a pit stop to the moon, is yet to be determined.
The gap of at least half a decade between sampling and collection will present enormous issues to the collaborating agencies, who will have to accurately traverse miles of terrain to find a small tubes strewn across the rusty desert.
All this will be done without GPS, which only works on Earth, and rely solely on cameras to collect what will arguably be the 36 most important test tubes of all time.
Critics have raised concerns that storms on the surface of Mars could pose a serious threat to the tubes, either covering them in sand or blowing them into deep crevasses.
To prepare for just such an eventuality, Airbus engineers in the UK have been testing the vision of the apparatus that will go to space.
They hope to ensure the robot will be able to spot the small sample tubes, no matter where they are or what they are covered by.
Matt Lisle, a mission systems engineer at the Airbus base in Stevenage, told the Telegraph: ‘It’s doing really well.
‘We did a demonstration where we basically recreated a big sand drift, so we pulled the sample tube through the sand to create a massive mound, on one side, and it still found it.’
WHAT IS NASA’S MARS 2020 MISSION?
The Mars 2020 mission is part of Nasa’s Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration of the red planet.
Nasa hopes the mission will help to answer key questions about the potential for life on Mars.
The mission also provides opportunities to gather knowledge and demonstrate technologies that address the challenges of future human expeditions to Mars, including producing oxygen from the Martian atmosphere, and identifying water.
The mission is timed for a launch in July/August 2020 when Earth and Mars are in good positions relative to each other for landing on Mars.
According to NASA, the new rover will have 23 cameras (artist’s impression pictured)
