A new book titled "Out of Eden," by Alan Burdick, says microbes may be living in the electronic circuits of the twin Mars robotic landers, Spirit and Opportunity. According to Burdick, Kasthuri Venkateswaran, a microbiologist at NASA's spacecraft assembly plant in Pasadena says tests have shown that the microbes could have survived the vacuum of space as well as the extremes of the Martian climate.
The microbes in question are called Bacillus safensis Venkateswaran, 2004. Officials say they were found in a NASA test chamber which had been used to test Spirit and Opportunity. They were possibly carried in on the skin of scientists.
This discovery has many ramifications. Not only will it have an effect on the search for life which may have originated on Mars, it may also be a possible breach of a UN treaty to stop other planets being polluted from Earth.
A NASA spokesman said there were “massive odds” against the microbes becoming established on the planet.