One of the robots that NASA sent to Marte He was surrounded by more than 20 totally unknown microbes. These are organisms that did not originate on the Martian planet, but rather traveled from Earth, despite the strict sterilization protocols that this space agency has.
This discovery recorded by NASA does not suggest that life exists on Mars. But it turned on a signal that warns about the risks of interplanetary pollution.
The discovery was made known from a study led by scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in the NASAwho analyzed samples taken during the assembly of the Phoenix spacecraft, launched to Mars in 2007.
During this process, they were detected 26 species of microbes that managed to survive to cleaning protocols designed to eliminate any terrestrial life forms before takeoff.
What are the resistant microbes that withstood the trip to Mars?
These microorganisms were found in clean rooms, extremely controlled environments where the robots that NASA send to space.
There, the humidity, temperature and cleanliness conditions are so demanding that Only very resistant organisms can survive. Precisely for this reason, the discovery was so disturbing for researchers.
As explained by the scientists, the identified microbes belong to a group of Extremophilic bacteriacapable of resisting high levels of radiation, extreme dryness and lack of nutrients.
These characteristics make them ideal candidates to survive, at least temporarily, in hostile environments like that of Marte.
The most disturbing point of the discovery is not only that these microorganisms have accompanied the robot of the NASAbut some of them could withstand the harsh conditions of space travel and even the red planet itself.
Although there is no evidence that they have survived in Marteits mere presence poses a serious problem for science.
The search for life in Marte It is based on the premise of avoiding any terrestrial contamination that could alter the samples or generate false positives.
If a terrestrial microbe manages to adapt or leave traces in the Martian soil, it could be confused with a sign of native life of the planet.
The researchers explained that, after sequencing the DNA of these 26 microbes, it was found that many of them were unknown until that moment.
That is to say, They had not even been previously cataloged on Earthdemonstrating how little is still known about microbial biodiversity in extreme environments.
A problem to solve for future NASA missions to Mars
This discovery comes at a crucial time, when the NASA and other space agencies They plan increasingly ambitious missions Marteincluding those seeking to bring Martian soil samples back to Earth.
The possibility of cross-contamination—bringing terrestrial microbes to Mars or bringing Martian organisms to our planet—is one of the main concerns of so-called “planetary protection.”
Scientists emphasize that the objective is not to alarm, but to learn. The discovery of these microbes allowed us to improve genetic analysis methods and develop new cleaning and biological control strategies.
In fact, studying how these organisms survive can also provide valuable information for biology, medicine, and the understanding of life in extreme conditions.
Furthermore, if terrestrial life is capable of resisting such hostile conditions, it is not unreasonable to think that some form of microscopic life could have arisen or survived on Mars at some point in its history.
Far from being proof of extraterrestrial life, this episode functions as a warning. The exploration of Mars not only involves technological challenges, but also scientific and ethical dilemmas about how to interact with other worlds without altering them.
The NASA made it clear that it will continue to strengthen its protocols and use this finding as an opportunity to improve.
Meanwhile, the red planet remains one of the great mysteries of the solar system, and each discovery adds another piece to the complex puzzle of life beyond Earth.
