[FPSPACE] Scientists propose conservation parks on Mars

[David Woods]

From: LARRY KLAES <ljk4 at msn.com>


Scientists propose conservation parks on Mars
 
Mark Peplow <http://www.nature.com/news/about/aboutus.html#Peplow>

International agreement could preserve important sites.
 
Next time you go for a stroll on Mars, be sure you don't leave any 
litter behind. A plan to keep parts of the red planet in their pristine 
state could see seven areas turned into 'planetary parks', regulated 
just like national parks here on Earth.

The scheme has been proposed by Charles Cockell, a microbiologist for 
the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge, and Gerda Horneck, an 
astrobiologist from the German Aerospace Centre in Cologne, Germany.

"It is the right of every person to stand and stare across the beautiful 
barrenness and desolation of the Martian surface without having to 
endure the eyesore of pieces of crashed spacecraft scattered across the 
landscape," they write in the latest edition of Space Policy1 
<http://www.nature.com/news/2004/041122/full/041122-15.html#B1>.

Although scientists have found no life on Mars, Cockell and Horneck 
point out that many national parks on Earth are protected partly for 
their geological interest and natural beauty, such as the Grand Canyon 
and Antarctica. "And if Mars has simple microbial life, there are even 
greater reasons for establishing planetary parks - to protect that life 
from human destruction," they write.
 
http://www.nature.com/news/2004/041122/full/041122-15.html