QUESTION: 
Do you think that we should colonize planets that we know have life on
them? If so, do you have any procedures for first contact with other life
forms?

ANSWER from Jack Farmer on November 20, 1996:
Colonizing a planet with life might not be that straightforward. Remember
that the range of conditions that are comfortable for humans is pretty
narrow compared to the possible range of life as a whole. Some organisms,
for example, can even survive below temperatures of 80 degrees C, while
others quickly die in the presence of oxygen. So, colonizing will require
us to take our own environment to whatever planet we are talking about. 

As far as precautions, we do have to worry about protecting the home planet
from life that we might find elsewhere, and there is a whole program in
NASA that deals with that subject. We are mostly planning around a Mars
sample return mission now, and will have to create special facilities to
quarantine samples and special procedures for handling those materials
when they are returned to Earth. It will be very important to make the
right decisions so as to not risk the health of our biosphere. The
National Academy of Science has a special panel reviewing this problem
right now. I talked to them back in the spring and this group of eminent
scientists are doing their best to come up with sound recommendations as
soon as possible!