Should we store Mars samples on the moon to keep alien germs away from Earth?

A team of researchers is advocating to use the moon as a secure site for biocontainment of extraterrestrial samples, particularly those from Mars, but also from other potential worlds like Enceladus, a moon of Saturn. The researchers contend that our moon offers a naturally sterile and isolated environment that can act as humanity's first line of biological defense against organisms perhaps harmful to Earth and its life. Making the case for a laboratory planted on the moon — perhaps tended robotically — is Frederick Moxley, director of the Strategic Threat Analysis and Research (STAR) Laboratories, a technical consultancy located in Star, Idaho, along with Anthony Ricciardi of McGill University in Canada. Moxley and Ricciardi caution that the introduction of any novel form of life to the Earth's biosphere would pose "unpredictable ecological consequences." They detail their concerns in a newly published paper in Ambio, a journal of environment and society. Planetary protection measures "It's no secret that there is a race between the United States and China to build a base on the moon," Moxley tells Space.com. "However, whoever gets there first will likely determine where it will be located and how it will be operated among other things. Elements as to architectural components for each are still a work in progress," he said. China's moon base effort is known as the International Lunar Research Station , or ILRS for short. …