You could argue that the last two sentences were removed in the book version, since the book and film were written simultaneously and the book came out later.

> Surprised they went with this decision.

ESA explains it like this [1]:

> Category II missions are flyby or orbiter missions that venture to worlds where there may be some possibility of life, but the chances of contamination are slim. Then there's category III, where the chances of contamination are deemed greater.

> The planetary protection classification for Ganymede is driven by the likelihood that living organisms from Earth, brought to Ganymede by the spacecraft, can make their way down to the ice-ocean interface [...] In turn, this likelihood is deemed so low for Ganymede that it justifies a category II protection level, allowing for the spacecraft to be disposed on Ganymede's surface.

[1] https://www.space.com/europe-juice-jupiter-mission-planetary...

If tardigrades can survive launch, deep space, Jovian orbital conditions for years, and a crash on Ganymede, and then be able to reproduce, maybe they deserve to be there.

That is a bizarre decision. Have we learned nothing from the hundreds or thousands of examples of humans inadvertently messing with ecosystems by introducing new organisms?

What, are you saying that it is expected that the probe will actually be inadvertently carrying Tardigrades that might actually survive to the surface? Hidden in little corners of the probe? Why didn't we sterilize it?

Why would there be a bunch of tardigrades sitting on the probe? Unless they walk out to their nearest moss pile and smear it all over I think the chances are remarkably, incredibly slim.

You know they go to every length to sterilize the probe before launch?