Catherine Wortel

Earth Science

D Block Odd

10|13|15

Chang, Kenneth. "Mars Is Pretty Clean. Her Job at NASA Is to Keep It That Way." The New York Times. The New York Times, 05 Oct. 2015. Web. 18 Oct. 2015.

Kenneth Chang, the author of the article, “Mars Is Pretty Clean. Her job as Nasa Is to Keep It That Way.” explores the extensive steps NASA has to take so none of Earth’s microbes or microorganisms are able to survive and procreate on Mars. Catherine Conley, the planetary protection officer of NASA, is the person who’s held responsible for the safety and health of Mars. So the question is why would Conley not desire for Earth’s organisms to adapt and prosper on Mars? Her reasoning was that herself and other researchers did not want to study the monotonous objects of Earth on another planet, but rather look at the unexpected and discover what the Red Planet could eventually bring to the table. Ergo, prior to every expedition sent to Mars, NASA spends about one hundred million dollars to decontaminate it. Even though the missions are sterilized thoroughly, 20,000-40,000 microbes have the capability of fusing aboard the spacecraft when it is launched into space.

Other measurements were taken to protect Mars’ surface, for example, NASA has interdicted certain areas from being researched when the missions are sent to Mars. These areas are known as Recurring Slope Lineae (or R.S.L.S). The regions contain habitable areas for earthlings, hence they are forbidden to be traveled on. Water is located in the R.S.L.s, consequently if a microbe interacts with the areas, it may have the potential to exist and thrive. If this were to betide, then NASA would have a big predicament on their hands.  Catherine Conley only hopes that Mars does not develop into, per se, another “breed” of Earth.

Earth’s society is not the only thing that needs protection from invaders. Mars is in high demand for security to preserve its intact atmosphere. As humans, it is our duty to not use Mars as our new stomping ground or else it may not be able to develop into its own type of planet.  If, in the near future, we are qualified to peregrinate Mars, we will have to take safety precautions. That means, not visiting the R.S.Ls because Earth life would be in contact with habitable areas.

“Mars Is Pretty Clean. Her job as Nasa Is to Keep It That Way” was an interesting read. It generally was an easy article to follow, but it did have some flaws. First, it could have been a little more consistent. Meaning, the article kept jumping to a different topic without connecting it back to the main idea. In addition, he rarely wrote about the focus point of the article: Catherine Conley. He could’ve done a better job at weaving her name throughout the story. But, overall, Chang did a great job composing this article and I cannot wait to read more of his works.