If we send people to Mars, and they discover life, should we make it a suicide mission?

[Rabrrrrrr]

If the life they find is bacteria or some other small scale life form?

That is, can we afford to let someone come back to earth if they have non-terrestrial bacteria on their suits, ship, skin, whatever?

Are we ready for the possible environmental nightmare that could ensue if a non-terrestrial life form entered our biosphere?

[Midlodemocrat]

1. Shit, dude. a non-terrestrial life is sitting in the White House.

[Reverend_Smitty]

2. and you've seen the mess they have made of this world...

[Rabrrrrrr]

3. All the more reason, then, never to let another one come here.

[Phoonzang]

4. They can be quarantined on a space station

for a period of time. I mean they're already planning to send a probe to takes a soil sample then bring sit back to Earth so I think having astronauts go would be the safer bet. At least when they start puking blood and turning in to brain eating alien zombies, we'll know not to let them back on planet. :)

[Bake]

5. How do you think life got here in the first place?

Bake

[DS1]

6. A one-way mission has been proposed by a moon-landing engineer

Saves a hell of a lot of fuel, food, and other worries when you don't have to rocket back alive.

[CreekDog]

7. Didn't Al Franken suggest we send very old people into space

Since we wouldn't need to worry about getting them back?

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