Have we? We've definitely changed the ecosystem, but it doesn't sound like things have changed all that much in the 30 years since it was discovered.

I guess it depends how you define "ruined", but it doesn't sound like any species have been lost, or life in there has been interrupted in any significant way.

There are almost certainly thousands, if not tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands of undiscovered caves exactly like this around the globe. And even that is probably a wild underestimate. The world is a very, very big place, and humans, despite all our activity, have barely scratched the surface of most of it.

endoplanets

I really like this word! Did you coin it just now?

Thanks! To my knowledge, yes; I haven't googled.

Microcosms

See you in Lake Vostok

That lends credence to Journey to the Center of the earth.

Maybe we still have dinosaurs lurking somewhere? Jurassic Park anybody?

They installed an airlock to keep changes to a minimum.

Edit: a double airlock

They also washed their hands before they went inside.

Edit - and wore a hair net

Oh good. They likely wiped their feet too.

Edit - on only one of the three spider species.

I hope they had their white coats properly buttoned.

Hope they didnt bring something outside :D

Nah, just like most of the animals in that cave wouldn't survive outside of it, nothing from outside world would thrive inside of it: the conditions are too different. With low oxygen, and food sources that require extreme specialisation it's hard for any invasive species to take hold.

We have the rest of the Universe that is untouched by human hands As Carl Sagan would say, there are "billions and billions" of stars each with its own solar system. We have a long way to go before contaminating everything. Some people find reasons to be depressed.

I don't think it's SO bad. There's still an opportunity to protect it and learn from it without completely destroying it.

All the more reason to develop better robots for terrestrial exploring.

I agree

> Just have to hope there are other, undiscovered, caves like this around the globe.

But the moment we discover them...

Let sterile robots do the spelunking!

Can they do it in the dark? We still have the Marinas trench! We have to really make an effort to contaminate that!

Is there really such a thing as a sterile robot? Chances are that our probes have carried some microscopic life to Mars already.

The question is, assuming that life survived space travel, can it survive there, let alone thrive?

Also, the people involved in those missions must have known about the possibility of contamination. Do they take no steps against it?

Heisenberg!

You sound depressed.