Wickramasinghe suspects politics. "I think there could be political and sociological considerations at work." He explains that "...if life was already detected, then there is no need to spend vast sums of money to continue the search."
A danger to Earth?
Those that believe Mars has microbial life are concerned about some projects currently on the drawing board. NASA has been pushing for a mission to collect soil samples and bring them back to Earth.
"There is a lot of scientific interest nowadays in bringing back samples of Martian soil to Earth at the cost of tens of billions of dollars, and there is a lobby that says if microbes exist on Mars we should not be doing this. It could pose a bio-hazard."
A new or mutated type of virus was the basis of The Andromeda Strain , the first novel by best-seller author Michael Crichton. In the novel, an alien strain escapes and kills everyone in a town. The plot focuses on the frenzied attempt to contain the virulent virus before it can kill most of humanity.
Links
Water on Mars
Mars: Habitability and Biology
Original Helium article.
Copyright AYM Communications. 2010
A danger to Earth?
Those that believe Mars has microbial life are concerned about some projects currently on the drawing board. NASA has been pushing for a mission to collect soil samples and bring them back to Earth.
"There is a lot of scientific interest nowadays in bringing back samples of Martian soil to Earth at the cost of tens of billions of dollars, and there is a lobby that says if microbes exist on Mars we should not be doing this. It could pose a bio-hazard."
Links
Water on Mars
Mars: Habitability and Biology
Original Helium article.
Copyright AYM Communications. 2010
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