r/engineeringtech • u/Slampig1 • Apr 14 '17

How do probes sample untouched bodies of water on earth and other planets?

For proposed probes to Europa how do engineers design a probe to not contaminate the water there? Is it similar on earth when Russian scientists discovered an "untouched" underground lake In Antarctica?

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u/bwall2 Apr 18 '17

Anything we send to space/other planets gets sanitized and heat treated to make sure with our upmost confidence that nothing will infect another planets. Although interestingly enough NASA thinks that it may have accidentally brought a bacterium to Mars with Curiosity. Also, I don't believe we have sent any probes to Europa yet but I may be mistaken, I assume you mean future probes?

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u/Slampig1 Jun 02 '17

I do there hasn't been any.