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[i2amroy]

It's cloudy where I'm at too.

[Starver]

A bit hazy here, but could have been worse.

However, Ladies and Gentlemen (and Others Of Whom I Have So Far Not Sufficiently Described Their Personal Gender Identification To Their Full Satisfaction): An announcement!

I have played loud music;
I have banged numerous drums and drumlike objects;
I have cried and wailed to the gods;
I have sacrificed several slices of Battenburg cake to the cause (in lieu of the various traditional examples of livestock, that I couldn't get hold of at such short notice, but I'm sure it amounts to the same)
...and now, I am very pleased to announce, I have frightened away the giant space-clam that was intent on devouring our moon, and it is in the process of (slowly, but surely) regurgitating our celestial companion.

But I do not do this to strive for your adulation.  Just the usual gold, jewels and selection of scantily clad courtesans, thank you.

No rush, of course.  Before the end of the week will do.

[Putnam]

hooray your actions coincided with something else and thus must be the cause

my worship is yours

EDIT: sorry i just realized how difficult the tone of my voice is to ascertain here

i'm not elaborating though

[Sinistar]

NASA TO CONFIRM HALF-LIFE 3

HYPE

edt:

Yep, it's official. Pretty cool.

[nogoodnames]

So with possible microorganism fossils in martian meteorites, unexplained methane production, and now confirmed liquid water, life on Mars is looking more and more likely. We probably won't be able to say definitively until either a sample return or a manned mission, but this is pretty exciting news.

[Dutrius]

I wish I could have seen the Eclipse, but it was after 2am and I had to get up for Uni.

Martian water! Whoo! I did a little jig in my chair when I saw that.

[RedKing]

Sounds like one of the rovers needs to scoot its' adorable droid butt over to one of these dark streaks and start sampling.

That, or build a new rover geared around looking for water and land it in one of these regions.

Spoiler: Also... (click to show/hide)

[Il Palazzo]

Sounds like one of the rovers needs to scoot its' adorable droid butt over to one of these dark streaks and start sampling.

I hear they're not allowed to do that, because they weren't sufficiently sterilised and might bring contaminants with them.

[RedKing]

Sounds like one of the rovers needs to scoot its' adorable droid butt over to one of these dark streaks and start sampling.

I hear they're not allowed to do that, because they weren't sufficiently sterilised and might bring contaminants with them.

What, space herpes? I thought the whole idea was that we were sterilizing the hell out of anything we sent, just to avoid killing martians with common-grade soil bacteria and the like? Plus that whole "being exposed to intense unfiltered UV radiation on a daily basis" thing.

[GiglameshDespair]

Oh, that happens, but its not enough to be sure to get all of them.

Hardy little buggers.

[Icefire2314]

So like, did space herpes colonize Mars before we will? :?

[Il Palazzo]

Sounds like one of the rovers needs to scoot its' adorable droid butt over to one of these dark streaks and start sampling.

I hear they're not allowed to do that, because they weren't sufficiently sterilised and might bring contaminants with them.

What, space herpes? I thought the whole idea was that we were sterilizing the hell out of anything we sent, just to avoid killing martians with common-grade soil bacteria and the like? Plus that whole "being exposed to intense unfiltered UV radiation on a daily basis" thing.

http://www.nature.com/news/microbial-stowaways-to-mars-identified-1.15249

Although spacecraft go through multiple cleaning steps to ensure that they bear no biological contaminants, previous reports suggest that Curiosity project developers did not follow these planetary protection protocols to the letter. The regulations are a safeguard; whether microbes can tolerate conditions on the surface of Mars is still unknown.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/29/science/space/mars-life-liquid-water.html?_r=0

Even though R.S.L.s appear to be some of the most intriguing features on Mars, NASA has no plans to get a close-up look anytime soon.

R.S.L.s are treated as special regions that NASA’s current robotic explorers are barred from because the rovers were not thoroughly sterilized, and NASA worries that they might be carrying microbial hitchhikers from Earth that could contaminate Mars.

Of the spacecraft NASA has sent to Mars, only the two Viking landers in 1976 were baked to temperatures hot enough to kill Earth microbes. NASA’s next Mars rover, scheduled to launch in 2020, will be no cleaner. Sterilizing spacecraft, which requires electronics and systems that can withstand the heat of baking, adds to the cost and complicates the design.

Tl;dr;
The pre-launch sterilisation process of the currently active robotic explorers (even if done by the book) is not invasive enough to kill all bacteria, and it is unknown whether space travel would kill all of those that remained. And if you're not certain they're all dead, you have to assume they're not.

[RedKing]

Only logical answer is to build the probe in vacuum.

[GiglameshDespair]

If vacuum was enough to ensure they all died it wouldn't be an issue.

[Sheb]

Still not enough. You've heard of Deinococcus radiodurans right?