Planetary travel has been the dream of many people over the years. An exciting advancement that snowballed the possibility of space travel and planetary travel was when humanity was able to send the first man to the moon in 1969.
Recently, Science News published an article called "Bacteria that can make humans sick could survive on Mars" by Adam Mann. These researchers have been experimenting with bacteria and testing whether the bacteria that we have here on Earth could "hitchhike" on our travels to Mars and survive there. These researchers simulated the conditions of a Mars landscape. Under the simulated Mars conditions, some bacteria were able to survive for extended periods, and some were even able to grow in the simulated Mars sands!
The article described that, moving forward, we should consider methods that should be followed to limit the infection of other worlds with our bacteria, similar to how we should have limited the exposure of our bacteria when colonizing different parts of the planet Earth, but on an extra-planetary scale.
The article suggests one way that the biome of Mars can be protected is by designating areas as a type of national park. These Mars national parks would be areas that humans are not allowed. No foreign life would be allowed in these national parks, but machines such as a Rover from NASA, would be able to explore those areas, as seen in the photo above from NASA.
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