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Life Out There
Though there is some evidence for microbial life on Mars, for the most part the standard message is Mars is barren, sterile, no life. For the most part, space is sterile, and can’t support life. The Van Allen radiation belt will kill people and life. Life can’t exist in space. So, why do we spend hundreds of millions of dollars to build rovers and probes in a sterile environment? Maybe it’s time to cut costs and get down and dirty to get off Earth. We don’t need to build in a sterile environment, we just need to build and go.
Making sure the spacecraft are as biologically clean and contamination-free as possible before they leave Earth is one of the requirements of Article IX of the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, requiring all space-exploring countries to “avoid the harmful contamination … resulting from the introduction of extraterrestrial matter.” In response, NASA developed its own policy and procedure outlining the cleanliness requirements for NASA spacecraft that protects other solar system bodies from Earth life and protects Earth from extraterrestrial life that may be brought back by returning space missions.
Please observe harmful contamination- if Mars is sterile, there is no harm introducing extraterrestrial matter… By the way, when did we decide Earth matter is extraterrestrial?
