From Barry DiGregorio
The loss of the Mars Climate Orbiter was caused by human error
(9 October, p 6)
and is one more reason why NASA and the French and Italian space agencies
should postpone their plans to return Martian soil samples in 2008. If a similar
error occurred on a sample return vehicle, what guarantees do we have that the
Martian soil samples won’t end up in our oceans or on a mountainside?
When our entire biosphere hangs in the balance, it is unwise to bring Martian
soil that might contain microorganisms—as discussed in Rachel Nowak’s
feature (18 September, p 44) —back to Earth. Unless we can rule out the
chance that it might do harm, we should not embark on such a course.
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