CMLRD-EL-10-PD 2h February 1961

Dr. Fdward Anders

The Enrico Fermi Institute for Nuclear Studies
The University of Chicago

Chicago, Illinois

Dear Dr. Anders:

Thank you for sending me a prepublication copy of your zrticle
"The Moon as a Collector of Biological Material", Each approach to
this subject is different, and I found yours most interesting. The only
problem is that the various approaches do not all lead to the sam
conclusions, and it looks more than ever that the question of the
moon's biology if any, will be finally settled by direct examination.

Dr. Calvin, for example, in the paper he gave with Susan K. Vaughn
at the same COSPAR symposium in Nice where Dr. Lederberg presented his
paper to which you refer, refers to the tons of material coming to the
earth (and hence presumably the moon) every year in the form of meteorites
and reported finding evidence of organic material among certain of the
larger meteorites. It might be interesting to make the calculations of
the tons of material reaching the moon yearly, and the frection of this
material which may contain carbonaceous material. In other words, the
metecrs may carry far more organic material directly to the moon than
they may “splash up" from the earth, if I understand your thesis correctly.

In any case, I would think that care in keeping any earthly contami-
nation of the moon to a bare minimum until we have had a chance to
examine it for any possible evidence of biological material is well
warrented, even if only to determine whether earth forms found there
were deposited in the 20th Century or millennia ago. Needless to say,
I am delighted to see that you ammended your article to exclude the planets.
On the question of every precaution with our planetary probes, there seems to
be no scientific disagreement. And where better could we practice steri-
ligation techniques for planetary probes than on lunar ones, particularly
Since if we follow the Russian time table, planetary shots are only about
two years behind lunar ones in schedule,

Yours truly,

yr
Ce ,

CHARL®S R. PHILLIPS
Chief, Physical Defense Division

ec: Dr. Lederberg
Mr. Posner