Verification of the effects of sterilisation/decontamination procedures on Mars Analogue materials.

在接下来的几十年里，人们希望一些太空任务能够到达其他星球，比如火星，并带回物质。这类任务的一个潜在风险是，返回的物质可能含有现存的生命，它们可能与地球上的生命相互作用，可能带来可怕的后果。尽管发生这种事件的可能性很小，但它的潜在破坏性非常大，因此有必要确保任何返回的物质在到达地球时都经过完全消毒。其中一个担忧是，灭菌过程可能会微妙地改变样品，从而使研究它们的科学家无法获得关于返回岩石的真实原始性质的正确图像。因此，我们正在计划一项研究计划，通过测量与我们预计在火星上发现的岩石相似的岩石特征，然后对它们进行消毒并重新测量，来调查各种可能的灭菌方案（例如辐照）如何影响岩石。通过这种方式，我们将能够推荐合适的消毒程序，而不损害它们的科学。

Within the next few decades it is hoped that several space missions will be able to travel to other planets, such as Mars, and bring material back. One of the potential risks of such missions is that the returned material may contain extant life, which could then interact with terrestrial life, with possibly dire consequences. Although the likelihood of such an event occurring is very small, it is potentially so devastating that it is necessary to assure that any returned material is fully sterilised on arrival on Earth. One concern is that the sterilisation procedure may subtly change the samples, and so prevent the scientists who study them from getting the correct picture about the true pristine nature of the returned rock. We are therefore planning a programme of research to investigate how various possible sterilisation protocols (e.g. irradiation) affects rocks, by measuring the characteristics of rocks similar to those we expect to find on mars, then sterilising them and re-measuring them. In this way we will be able to recommend suitable procedures for sterilisation that do not compromise them scientifically.