QUESTION:
I have a question regarding the sterilization procedures used (if any) to
prevent contamination of Mars as a result of the mars pathfinder landing. 
In particular I am interested in knowing what procedures were used to
sterilize the compressed gas used to inflate the airbags?  Is it possible
that terrestrial micro-organisms could have been released into the Martian
atmosphere as a result of deflating the airbags?

ANSWER from Guy Beutelschies on July 15, 1997:
The goal of the sterilization process was to reduce the number of
micro-organisms to a level low enough so that the odds of anything
reproducing enough to survive on Mars is really low.  We mostly worry only
about spores since other organisms are unlikely to survive the temperature
extremes and vacuum of space.  We used mostly alcohol wiping to achieve this
although some components such as the parachute and the airbags were heat
sterilized.

The gas inside the airbags was generated by a chemical reaction.  Basically
we used the gas generated by small solid rockets (not the same ones as in
the backshell).  Microorganisms were deemed unlikely to survive the process.

Guy Beutelschies	Mars Pathfinder Flight Engineer