Astrobiology Wiki:New editors: Difference between revisions

I also think we should work towards 100% sterile rovers for astrobioloogy and believe that this is feasible using the technology being developed for Venus surface missions, with heat sterilizaation to 300 °C. That is hot enough to destroy all amino acids, so a few months heat sterilization at 300 C in an interplanetary journey would result in a 100% sterile spacecraft. Any method of 100% sterilization is fine but that seems the most feasible at present. I know that it is ambitious at present but once we can achieve that we can send astrobiological rovers and instruments anywhere, even to the most vulnerable habitats, without any concerns of contamination. So the pay off would be enormous. They could also be used for habitats on Earth such as lake Vostok which we wish to keep free of contamination by surface life.