McKay C P, Davis W L
NASA/Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035.
Adv Space Res. 1989;9(6):197-202. doi: 10.1016/0273-1177(89)90230-5.
Current planetary quarantine considerations focus on robotic missions and attempt a policy of no biological contamination. The presence of humans on Mars, however, will inevitably result in biological contamination and physical alteration of the local environment. The focus of planetary quarantine must therefore shift toward defining and minimizing the inevitable contamination associated with humans. This will involve first determining those areas that will be affected by the presence of a human base, then verifying that these environments do not harbor indigenous life nor provide sites for Earth bacteria to grow. Precursor missions can provide salient information that can make more efficient the planning and design of human exploration missions. In particular, a robotic sample return mission can help to eliminate the concern about returning samples with humans or the return of humans themselves from a planetary quarantine perspective. Without a robotic return the cost of quarantine that would have to be added to a human mission may well exceed the cost of a robotic return mission. Even if the preponderance of scientific evidence argues against the presence of indigenous life, it must be considered as part of any serious planetary quarantine analysis for missions to Mars. If there is life on Mars, the question of human exploration assumes an ethical dimension.
当前的行星检疫考量主要集中在机器人任务上，并试图推行无生物污染政策。然而，人类在火星上的存在将不可避免地导致生物污染和当地环境的物理改变。因此，行星检疫的重点必须转向定义并尽量减少与人类相关的不可避免的污染。这将首先涉及确定那些会受到人类基地存在影响的区域，然后核实这些环境中不存在本土生命，也没有供地球细菌生长的场所。先驱任务可以提供重要信息，从而提高人类探索任务规划和设计的效率。特别是，从行星检疫的角度来看，机器人样本返回任务有助于消除对人类带回样本或人类自身返回的担忧。如果没有机器人返回，必须添加到载人任务中的检疫成本很可能会超过机器人返回任务的成本。即使大量科学证据表明火星不存在本土生命，但在对火星任务进行任何严肃的行星检疫分析时，都必须将其考虑在内。如果火星上存在生命，人类探索的问题就会涉及伦理层面。
