Surveyor 3 Microbes

Since Apollo 12 astronauts brought back the camera of NASA's Surveyor 3 lunar probe, which had landed on the Moon 30 months before they did, the story has circulated that Earthly microbes on Surveyor had survived all those months. A new look at how the camera was examined after its return casts doubt on that story, however. It seems procedures used to avoid contamination of the camera were lax, thus opening the door to the possibility that the microbes were introduced to the camera after its return.

The study concludes we must do a better job of isolation when we return samples from Mars, for example. That's no doubt true, and no doubt procedures will be more rigorous-- partly because we'll have better technology and a better grasp on biological possibilities, but also partly because expectations will be different. No serious scientist in 1969 thought-- and none think now-- that there is life on the Moon. Going through exacting procedures to avoid contamination, or the release of alien microbes, might have struck some people involved as unnecessary. Mars is different. There is a reasonable case to be made that Mars could have supported life in the past, and even a fair case that Mars supports life today. We will have a good idea whether a sample from Mars could be biologically interesting long before it reaches Earth. In any case, rigorous protocols will be followed to the letter.