NEWMedia T. L. KELLER
ALH84001 a Martian meteorite found in the Allan Hills region of Antarctica in 1984 by a team of American meteorite hunters from the ANSMET project. bacteria tiny creatures making up a division of microorganisms that are typically one-celled, have no chlorophyll, multiply by simple division and can be seen with a basic microscope. DNA deoxyribonucleic acid is a molecule composed of two chains that coil around each other to form a double helix carrying genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of all known organisms and many viruses on Earth. Mars Sample-Return NASA and European Space Agency mission planned to return soil samples from Mars in the early 2030s. The current plan incorporates the collection and storage of soil samples by NASA’s Perseverance rover vehicle. The samples then would be returned to Earth much later on a Mars Sample-Return mission.
The Andromeda Strain Could a worldwide pandemic result from the Mars Sample-Return mission?
Background
One of this writer’s favorite, classic sci-fi films is Robert Wise’s The Andromeda Strain (1971), based upon Michael Crichton’s fictional book of the same title. The plot goes something like this: an American satellite is launched in order to capture upper-atmosphere microorganisms for biological warfare research. However, in the process, a meteor carrying extraterrestrial microbes crashes into the satellite, taking it out of orbit. One of the damaged satellite components containing the microbes then parachutes to a remote New Mexico town. As a result of aerial reconnaissance, it appears that all of the townspeople have died— well, all but two: a six-month-old infant and a 69-year-old, alcoholic man living on aspirin and Sterno.
microbe microscopic organism. Any bacterium that causes disease. pathogen any agent, especially a microorganism able to cause a disease. RNA ribonucleic acid is a polymeric molecule essential in various biological roles in coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes. RNA and DNA are nucleic acids, and, along with lipids, proteins and carbohydrates, constitute the four major macromolecules essential for all known forms of life on Earth. virus nucleic acid (ultra-microscopic), either DNA or RNA, encased by protein. Viruses infect animals, plants and bacteria and can reproduce only within living cells. 12 | JUNE 2020
Drs. Stone and Hall discover the satellite debris containing alien microbes1
The microbes contain the chemical elements (carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen—the constituent elements in amino acids) required for terrestrial life, but lack the DNA, RNA, and the amino acids present in all forms of terrestrial life. They have the unusual ability to transform matter directly into energy with no apparent byproducts. The satellite components and the microbes are taken to a top-secret, underground laboratory in Nevada called the Wildfire containment facility. The microbes, code-named “Andromeda,” mutate with each growth cycle, changing their biological properties. Unexpectedly, they also have the uncanny ability to degrade synthetic rubber and plastic seals in laboratory doors
