Why is it always the worst organisms?
The experiment could help us distinguish extraterrestrial life, if we ever encounter any, from life that simply hitched a ride from Earth."With crewed long-term missions to Mars, we need to know how human-associated microorganisms would survive on the Red Planet, as some may pose a health risk to astronauts," said DLR's Katharina Siems, who also worked on the research."In addition, some microbes could be invaluable for space exploration," Siems added.
"Microorganisms are closely-connected to us; our body, our food, our environment, so it is impossible to rule them out of space travel," Siems said. According to the researcher, the MARSBOx experiment is "a really important way to help us explore all the implications of space travel on microbial life and how we can drive this knowledge towards amazing space discoveries."
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