Why is it possible that we have a planet “polluted” with life … and why is it a problem

Labatella

May 13, 2021, 4:09 PM

The persistent robot, the size of a car, landed safely on Mars on February 18th. It may only advance at a top speed of 152 meters per hour, but it consists of a series of tools with which he conducted experiments with revolutionary results.

to: BBC

On board the three-meter-long robot is a machine that turns Mars air (thin and filled with carbon dioxide) into oxygen, as well as a helicopter that made its first engine-controlled flight to another planet.

The helicopter, called Ingenuity, made 3 successful flights, covering greater distances.

But is it possible that something else has reached Mars with all of these devices? Could it be that a bacterium or spore trace from Earth was accidentally transported into space and survived the journey to make the Red Planet its new home?

It is almost impossible to avoid

NASA and its engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) have precise and comprehensive protocols to ensure their spacecraft are free of any objects that might inadvertently infiltrate a space mission.

However, two recent studies revealed how some organisms could survive the cleanup as well as the flight to Mars, as well as how quickly microbial species evolved in space.

You can read the full note at BBC