Earth bacteria travel to Mars

US researchers said that when the Curiosity autonomous machine from the US Aerospace Agency (NASA) was put on Mars in August 2012, it was carrying many kinds of Earth bacteria to the red planet.

According to Nature News, researchers at the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) said before the Curiosity robot was launched, a team of NASA experts carried out the task of disinfecting it. However, Curiosity still carries 377 strains of bacteria to Mars.

Curiosity self-propelled robot captures the surface of Mars - (Photo: Science)

ASM has introduced these bacteria into the Mars simulation environment, including cold temperatures, the atmosphere has almost no humidity and many ultraviolet rays. And surprisingly, 11% of these bacteria survived.

ASM claims this experiment shows that many of the basic possibilities of life can exist on the red planet. However, international experts assess this also means that people have polluted the Martian environment. At that time, the scientific world will not be able to study and fully understand the natural environment of the red planet.

The United Nations Space Treaty also prevents acts of polluting other planets or moons. Some experts say NASA will have to be especially careful when it ships to Jupiter's moon and Saturn's Enceladus, because the two moons exist in the ocean under the ice, so the risk of contamination is greater.