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Wednesday, September 7, 2011

COULD NEW ROVER'S WHEELS DELIVER GERMS TO MARS?

Curiosity-wheel

Could the first terrestrial representatives to land on Mars be of the single-celled, hitch-hiking variety? Although the idea of "infecting" the Red Planet with our germs is nothing new, one microbiologist believes the next Mars rover may have a higher chance of becoming a microbe lifeboat.

Andrew C. Schuerger, of the University of Florida and the Space Life Sciences Lab at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, has been carrying out tests on models of the Mars Science Laboratory's (known as "Curiosity") wheels and found that the novel (and slightly scary -- see why in the video at the end of this article) landing maneuvers of the Mini Cooper-sized rover could increase the chances of contaminating Mars with bacteria than any previous surface mission.

Read More: http://news.discovery.com/space/could-new-rover-wheels-deliver-microbes-to-mars-110907.html

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