Planetary Protection Issues in the Human Exploration of Mars

Very interesting article from NASA about the exploration of Mars.
Article is from July 2003.
This article outlines several odd and interesting statements.
Some Snippets:

Humans in a future Mars mission will have unique capabilities in recognizing likely sites and specific local physical features that might harbor life or otherwise be of very high interest and in deciding which sites should be sampled, and in ongoing evaluations of exploration conditions.

At present, it is not easy to apply definitions of Earth life to possible Martian life. Life on Earth has been found in locations with temperature, physical, radiation, and/or chemical environments previously thought to be incompatible with life. Some Martian life (and other non-terrestrial life) potentially may also exist in forms and in locations we cannot now fully predict.

Further study must be given to long-term forward PP concerns and the possible interaction of any forward contaminants with surface features and disturbances on Mars, given that it will be difficult to guarantee all human life processes and mission operations are conducted within entirely closed systems. Such information may be key to understanding the risks involved and the level of closure needed for these systems. There may be critical emerging issues regarding possible ecological developments on Mars associated with how Earth organisms can act and possibly evolve in the presence of Martian materials.

Describe the potential impacts of each of the many human support activities expected in the operation of a human-occupied Martian base, e.g. breathing oxygen, food supply, waste management, etc.

Develop technology required for life detection and potential pathogen detection (e.g. DNA/RNA) with a focus on sensitivity and specificity of tests as needed to answer “how clean is clean enough?” and “how ‘alive’ is indeed alive?”.

Communications with the public, via two separate workshops, one on the general public response to the detection of extraterrestrial life on Mars (or elsewhere away from Earth), and the other on planning to prepare the public for the possible discovery of non-terrestrial life.

Source

So what are your thoughts?
Myself I feel this lays bare the fact they know they will encounter life, I also find some of the statements odd such as "human-occupied Martian base".....

why is that odd? they're quite obviously talking about if we construct a base on mars inhabited by people how clean should they keep it and how it might affect any life present on mars.

frankly i personally really don't care if there are microbes on mars. i think we need to colonize and slowly terraform it.

reply to post by WhiteWash


Hmmmm..........
Very, very interesting news!
Thanks for this.
Intriguing the statement:
Communications with the public, via two separate workshops, one on the general public response to the detection of extraterrestrial life on Mars (or elsewhere away from Earth), and the other on planning to prepare the public for the possible discovery of non-terrestrial life

S&F

reply to post by WhiteWash


Well the last paragraph will get the dislosure mob chattering for sure. Im starting to think that maybe there is something going on myself.

Thanks for the post.