Hitchhiking bacteria could compromise the detection of li...( tion conditions. Although the r...)

Although the researchers have not found direct evidence for life on Mars their research does throw up a potential problem with future space missions. The survival of endospores in such adverse conditions raises the possibility that bacterial endospores could travel to Mars on the surface of spacecraft and survive on Martian soil. This could seriously compromise future efforts to establish whether there is, or has been life on Mars, as it would be difficult for researchers to know whether any endospores found originated from Earth or Mars.

Whilst this work establishes that bacterial endospores can survive exposure to the conditions probably found on Mars, it should be noted that it was not possible to test whether their simulated Martian environment would kill endospores over a geological timescale.

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BioMed Central
3-Apr-2003