NASA is planning its first-ever mission to bring dirt and rocks from Mars back to Earth — but before that momentous event happens, the space agency needs to figure out exactly how to protect our home planet from any alien microbes that might hitch a ride.
This week, the agency is holding public meetings and looking for feedback on its plan to land a spacecraft carrying Martian specimens at a U.S. Air Force testing range in Utah in the early 2030s.
“Maybe this is the most important environmental assessment that humans have ever done,” says Peter Doran, a geologist at Louisiana State University who studies life in extreme environments.
“I think that it’s a very low probability that there’s anything living at the surface of Mars,” says Doran, who also serves on an international committee devoted to planetary protection. “But there is a possibility.”
