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07/28/2005 06:56 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Mars Life May Be Contaminated by Spacecraft Is there life on Mars? If there is, NASA might be contaminating it with microbes from Earth.
The concern prompted the Washington, D.C.-based National Research Council (NRC) to issue an advisory yesterday urging the U.S. space agency to adopt more stringent spacecraft-sterilization techniques.
Microbes (microscopic organisms that humans live with every day) can survive in much more extreme environments than previously believed—places of superheated temperatures, radiation, freezing cold, high salt concentrations, or extreme dryness.
"The science we´ve been operating on, gathered during the Viking 1 and 2 missions in the 1970s, is completely outdated," said University of California planetary scientist David Paige. Paige is also a member of the private, nonprofit NRC.
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