Teaching assistant Sarah Joyce and her associates from the School of Population Health (Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry, and Health Sciences) at the University of Western Australia, Perth, conducted a survey of 74 professional astronomers from four Australian astronomical societies. The survey stated the realistic scenario in which NASA plans to return Martian soil to Earth sometime after the year 2020.

The conclusions of the study are published in the journal Advances in Space Research (DOI: 10.1016/j.asr.2007.02.009).

Joyce’s results show that 36 astronomers (48.6%) had ‘complete confidence’ in NASA being able to contain contamination if brought back to Earth from the Mars mission.

One in ten astronomers (10%) had no confidence in NASA being able to protect the Earth from Martian contamination.

According to the article “Alien Alert” in New Scientist (February 24-March 2, 2007), one in five astronomers polled by Joyce did not think NASA officials would inform the general public of the risks from such a mission.

Joyce is quoted by Paul Marks, Chief Technology Correspondent with New Scientist: “Our main 'take home' message centers on the fact that for an MSR program to be successful—and thereby avoid the controversy that surrounded the Galileo and Cassini missions—NASA must realize the importance of risk communication with the public. And this includes the international community. We hope that this research will encourage NASA and other international space agencies of the need to be proactive and engage with the public in order to gain their trust.”

According to Marks, personnel from NASA and ESA (European Space Agency) are investigating the contamination issue.

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Astronomy  Earth  Mars  Research  Science  Space  William Atkins