BioMars
Details
| Acronym | BioMars |
| Description | Quantification of cross-contamination in an analogue environment under high fidelity conditions and protocols to minimize the transfer of biological material |
| Principal Investigator (PI) | Birgit Sattler |
| Organisation | University of Innsbruck, Austria |
Summary
If there was or is life on Mars, contamination issues play a crucial role in identifying substrata with biological origins and mitigating risks of backward contamination of the crew, the habitat and, eventually, the Earth’s biosphere. No satisfying contamination control protocols have been developed so far.
BioMars addresses exactly this question by formulating procedures to minimize the cross-contamination of samples and crew. In order to measure the contamination, a drilling experiment will be carried out to take a subsurface sample at a depth of 20-50m and quantify the amount of material transferred in both directions by either means of marked bacteria or, alternatively, by chemicals (e.g. fluorescent substances) or granulous substrates.
Objectives
Quantification of cross-contamination in an analogue environment under high fidelity
Experiment Data
| Date | Files |
|---|---|
| 10-21 Apr 2006 | 18 files |
Additional Publications
| Reference | Access |
|---|---|
| Groemer, G., Frischauf, N., Soucek, A.,& Sattler, B. (2007). AustroMars -- a simulated high-fidelity human Mars analogue mission. Proceedings of the MARS 2030 Workshop. |