If a Moon or planet had life, what should we do?

[Godot]

Well, it is clear that it all will boil down to a couple of questions:

 

1. Does it have pharmacological use? (if yes, secure funding by pharma companies in order to research its cultivation and extraction)

2. Can it be used in warfare? (if yes contact the US military in order to gather fundings for further research into it)

3. Can it replace fossile fuels? (if yes, contact OPEC in order to gather bribes to keep it secret)

4. Is it edible and tastes well? (if yes secure fundings from gourmet restaurant chains in order to research cultivation, extraction and best püreparation techniques)

5. Is it neither of the above ... let exobiologists decide what to do with it

[todofwar]

1 hour ago, SargeRho said:

First, submerge your probe in hydrofluoric acid.

Then science the crap out of the planet/moon.

Step 1: submerge in HF, step 2: build new probe

1 hour ago, Godot said:

Well, it is clear that it all will boil down to a couple of questions:

 

1. Does it have pharmacological use? (if yes, secure funding by pharma companies in order to research its cultivation and extraction)

2. Can it be used in warfare? (if yes contact the US military in order to gather fundings for further research into it)

3. Can it replace fossile fuels? (if yes, contact OPEC in order to gather bribes to keep it secret)

4. Is it edible and tastes well? (if yes secure fundings from gourmet restaurant chains in order to research cultivation, extraction and best püreparation techniques)

5. Is it neither of the above ... let exobiologists decide what to do with it

You don't need it to actually do any of those, just need to convince them it might be able to

[SargeRho]

Just now, todofwar said:

Step 1: submerge in HF, step 2: build new probe

Only if you build the probe out of things that are HF-soluble. But if there is life on a world, you want to absolutely, positively sterilize the crap out of the probe.

[todofwar]

7 minutes ago, SargeRho said:

Only if you build the probe out of things that are HF-soluble. But if there is life on a world, you want to absolutely, positively sterilize the crap out of the probe.

Well, anything with silicon is toast. And any iron or aluminum. I think heat is your best friend here, bake it at 200 C for a few days. Then rinse with bleach. Then bake again. They've found life in autoclaves before, so it will take some serious punishment to be absolutely sure.

[YNM]

6 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

Hehe.

And especially Tardigrade. Created to rule the world. Look at its clever eyes.

Pass it over a CME, but probably that's gonna kill the craft as well, not to mention it's not the best way to have it.

Point still kinda stands as vacuum is pretty much making everything immobile. I mean, an orbiter can have a lifespan of 20 freaking years in space vacuum. Can't think of anything else better, to be very honest.

Dousing in RTG ? Maybe it'll work for Europa or Enceladus.

Edited April 25, 2016 by YNM

[Andem]

Ok, if it's Titan/Venus, construct a probe and an orbiter in the vacuum, of space, launch to Titan/Venus, Send Lander down, take pretty pics, track life migration patterns, etc., from orbit. Next, send a probe to take samples of available life and return to earth for study. If Europa, send people to construct a sub-ice sheet base to observe and track life forms.

[todofwar]

Actually, if it's on titan or venus we probably don't have to worry too much. Nothing will be active on titan, and pretty much everything will die on venus. There may be some spores that survive in the clouds for a while but not enough water to really start multiplying. Mars I'm not so sure, but I would imagine most life from Earth wouldn't live long either. Seems that anything on Mars will be instantly lyophilized. Those water bears can survive sure, but they need good conditions to start multiplying.

[peadar1987]

On 25/04/2016 at 0:03 PM, jwenting said:

kill it so it can't kill us. Survival is key, thinking that everything except humans is just cute furry animals that can't do harm to us or would be fully justified to if it did do harm is beyond silly, it's suicidal.

That's the same reason I randomly open up with a submachine gun in crowded places. Those guys could have been plotting anything against me. Best to be sure. Survival is key.

[gooddog15]

Poke it 'till it bleeds