Whose Bugs? Avoiding Planetary Contamination in the Scientific Exploration of Mars
Scientists have been exploring the surface of Mars with increasingly sophisticated missions ever since NASA’s Viking missions in 1976. Each successful mission has revealed even more mysteries of the Red Planet. Now, as future missions may be closing in on whether Mars is home to life, scientists must also make sure that our robots are not carrying Earth life …and that when samples one day are returned, martian bugs are not brought home.
Join Tony Darnell, Harley Thronson and Alberto Conti as they discuss with Dr. Jennifer Stern and Dr. Bette Siegel future scientific programs for Mars exploration and how both planets are protected against contaminating each other.
By: Deep Astronomy.