<story><title>The International Space Station is growing mould, inside and outside</title><url>https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/international-space-station-mould-1.5193970</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>fucking_tragedy</author><text>Mars will never be able to be a &amp;quot;second home&amp;quot; for humanity: it lacks the ability to maintain an atmosphere that can support humans due to its weak magnetic field.&lt;p&gt;The bottom of the ocean would be far more habitable if we faced any type of extinction event.</text></item><item><author>CydeWeys</author><text>That&amp;#x27;s fine though.  Having a second home for humanity is more important than maximally preserving the ability to detect past life (note that we wouldn&amp;#x27;t be eliminating that ability, just hindering it somewhat).&lt;p&gt;Also, we think we&amp;#x27;d be able to tell pretty easily whether any life detected is from Earth (i.e. we brought it along with us).  Life that isn&amp;#x27;t descended from the same tree of life as us is likely to be radically different.</text></item><item><author>not2b</author><text>It would mean you have a much harder time finding out if Mars once had life, if instead you&amp;#x27;re detecting mold that hitched a ride with your spacecraft.</text></item><item><author>CydeWeys</author><text>Seriously, is this a threat or is it the unexpected boon of getting a jump-start on terraforming?  If you could press a button and &amp;quot;contaminate&amp;quot; Mars with life that would start spreading and generating an oxygen atmosphere, wouldn&amp;#x27;t you?</text></item><item><author>wwwtyro</author><text>&amp;quot;The research touches on this, and it warns astronauts to follow recommended planetary protection protocols designed to prevent visiting spacecraft from contaminating other planets and moons in our solar system with microorganisms from Earth. The study suggests that, because of the risk of contamination, these fungal spores may need to be considered a more serious threat.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;This makes me wonder if we&amp;#x27;ve accidentally already started terraforming Mars.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>thirstywhimbrel</author><text>&amp;gt; The bottom of the ocean would be far more habitable if we faced any type of extinction event.&lt;p&gt;Yeah, space has a coolness factor, and there are things about the origin of the universe we can&amp;#x27;t learn from the bottom of the ocean, but an underwater station is one of the most underrated projects humanity could pursue.&lt;p&gt;Oceans are phenomenal shields against radiation, extreme weather, or even the temporary combustion of the atmosphere, should things get that bad. The opportunity to learn about groups surviving in isolated habitats, or about megastructures that have to survive hostile external environments, could even provide really useful lessons for space.</text></comment>
<story><title>The International Space Station is growing mould, inside and outside</title><url>https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/international-space-station-mould-1.5193970</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>fucking_tragedy</author><text>Mars will never be able to be a &amp;quot;second home&amp;quot; for humanity: it lacks the ability to maintain an atmosphere that can support humans due to its weak magnetic field.&lt;p&gt;The bottom of the ocean would be far more habitable if we faced any type of extinction event.</text></item><item><author>CydeWeys</author><text>That&amp;#x27;s fine though.  Having a second home for humanity is more important than maximally preserving the ability to detect past life (note that we wouldn&amp;#x27;t be eliminating that ability, just hindering it somewhat).&lt;p&gt;Also, we think we&amp;#x27;d be able to tell pretty easily whether any life detected is from Earth (i.e. we brought it along with us).  Life that isn&amp;#x27;t descended from the same tree of life as us is likely to be radically different.</text></item><item><author>not2b</author><text>It would mean you have a much harder time finding out if Mars once had life, if instead you&amp;#x27;re detecting mold that hitched a ride with your spacecraft.</text></item><item><author>CydeWeys</author><text>Seriously, is this a threat or is it the unexpected boon of getting a jump-start on terraforming?  If you could press a button and &amp;quot;contaminate&amp;quot; Mars with life that would start spreading and generating an oxygen atmosphere, wouldn&amp;#x27;t you?</text></item><item><author>wwwtyro</author><text>&amp;quot;The research touches on this, and it warns astronauts to follow recommended planetary protection protocols designed to prevent visiting spacecraft from contaminating other planets and moons in our solar system with microorganisms from Earth. The study suggests that, because of the risk of contamination, these fungal spores may need to be considered a more serious threat.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;This makes me wonder if we&amp;#x27;ve accidentally already started terraforming Mars.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>bjelkeman-again</author><text>It may be possible to create a magnetic field to protect the atmosphere. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.m.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Terraforming_of_Mars#Protecting_the_atmosphere&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.m.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Terraforming_of_Mars#Protect...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>