AIDS to mars.

[owlofcreamcheese]

the question of ‘one way trip to mars’ has come up. it is an interesting idea.

on the other hand it is a sacrifice for the people going, and thats the down side.

[GIGObuster]

[Duckster]

How is this any different from the adventurers and explorers of the past?

We are now celebrating the 200th anniversary of the Lewis & Clark Expedition. There were no givens any of them would return either.

[MEBuckner]

Moderator’s Note: Was this intended to be its own thread?

[owlofcreamcheese]

that was a hit enter at the wrong time sort of post…

question was… if you sterilized stuff well enough and sent people to mars (on the one way trip plan thats come up) would the HIV ever end up effecting the people, as no germs live on mars.

[Duck_Duck_Goose]

He’s talking about Paul Davies’ “One-Way Ticket to Mars” New York Times op-ed piece, I bet.

The latest from the StarTribune

…There is, however, an obvious way to slash the costs and bring Mars within reach of early manned exploration. The answer lies with a one-way mission.

Most people react with instinctive horror at the suggestion. I recall my own sense of discomfort when I met an aging American scientist who claimed to have trained for a one-way mission to the moon in the pre-Apollo days. And in the case of the barren moon, that reaction is largely justified. There is little on the moon to sustain human life.

Mars, however, is a different story. Because of the planet’s relatively benign environment, it is theoretically able to support a permanent human presence. If provided with the right equipment, astronauts would have a chance of living there for years. A one-way trip to Mars need not mean a quick demise.

Every two years the orbit of Mars creates a window of opportunity to send fresh supplies at a reasonable cost. An initial colony of four astronauts, equipped with a small nuclear reactor and a couple of rover vehicles, could make their own oxygen, grow some food and even initiate building projects using local raw materials. Supplemented by food shipments, medical supplies and replacement gadgets from home, the colony could be sustained indefinitely.

< snip >

Paul Davies, professor of natural philosophy at the Australian Center for Astrobiology, is author of “The Fifth Miracle: The Search for the Origin and Meaning of Life.” He wrote this article for the New York Times.

Since the incubation period for HIV can be up to 10 years, I doubt whether you’d be able to have a 100% guarantee that there would never be HIV on Mars.

http://somsafety.stanford.edu/bbp/review/inc1.html

Incubation is the time period from exposure to the organism until the first appearance of signs or symptoms of disease. This varies with each disease. For example, the incubation period for HBV is up to 200 days post-exposure, while for HIV the incubation period is up to ten years post-exposure. Thus, simply testing personnel immediately after an exposure is not always enough.

The fact that the Martian environment may not support “germs” is irrelevant–you don’t get HIV from touching “stuff” like spaceship equipment, and you don’t prevent HIV by sterilizing the “stuff”. You get HIV from other people, or from using unsterilized needles to shoot up with drugs.

[Grey]

@Duck Duck Goose

He’s talking about Paul Davies’ “One-Way Ticket to Mars” New York Times op-ed piece, I bet.

http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/4323851.html
Since the incubation period for HIV can be up to 10 years, I doubt whether you’d be able to have a 100% guarantee that there would never be HIV on Mars.

http://somsafety.stanford.edu/bbp/review/inc1.html

The fact that the Martian environment may not support “germs” is irrelevant–you don’t get HIV from touching “stuff” like spaceship equipment, and you don’t prevent HIV by sterilizing the “stuff”. You get HIV from other people, or from using unsterilized needles to shoot up with drugs.

But I think the question was would someone die of AIDS if there is no mechanism to overwhelm the immune system. HIV would remain but deaths due to AIDS would not.

[eburacum45]

@Grey

But I think the question was would someone die of AIDS if there is no mechanism to overwhelm the immune system. HIV would remain but deaths due to AIDS would not.

I see; if we do not take any secondary infections to Mars then we would not suffer from deficiencies in our immune systems, eh?

Sorry, but that would not be the case; the humans who colonise Mars will need to take their intestinal flora with them ; this bacterial culture will have the potential to produce many types of secondary infections.

Additionally, the waste material produced by humans (and any animals they take with them) will change Mars environment irrevocably unless treated thoroughly.

Like it or not, Mars will become infected once we get there.

[Grey]

@eburacum45

I see; if we do not take any secondary infections to Mars then we would not suffer from deficiencies in our immune systems, eh?

Sorry, but that would not be the case; the humans who colonise Mars will need to take their intestinal flora with them ; this bacterial culture will have the potential to produce many types of secondary infections.

Additionally, the waste material produced by humans (and any animals they take with them) will change Mars environment irrevocably unless treated thoroughly.

Like it or not, Mars will become infected once we get there.

I was trying to restate the OP, but you’re right we wont be able to not change Mars regardless of what we do.