Should Earth bacteria make it to the surface of Mars' Gale Crater -landing site of the Mars Curiosity rover (above), terrestrial organics could contaminate soil samples, giving experiments false positives of a second genesis on Mars. Even worse, should there be indigenous life on Mars, any accidental microbes from Earth could destroy microbial alien life.
During the preparation for the launch of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity on Nov. 26, a step in the "planetary protection" procedure wasn't adhered to. The procedure's key purpose is to make sure organic material from Earth doesn't get transferred accidentally to the Red Planet. As reported by Space.com's Leonard David, MSL project developers decided not to send a set of drill bits -- attached to the rover's exterior, ready to be used by the robotic arm's drill -- through a final ultra-cleanliness step before launch.
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