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The possibility of life on Mars is of great interest to astronomers because of its proximity and similarities with the Earth. To date, no living proof of past or present life on the red planet has been found. However, one scientist warned NASA of the possible dangerous effects of returning mission samples in case another form of life blossoms in relation to the Earth.
Colin Pillinger, professor of planetary sciences at the Open University until his death in 2014, claims a "Creeping" epidemic could be on the cards if the space agency is not paying attention.
He said BBC The podcast "In Our Time" of Radio 4 in 2007: "The next logical step [with Mars] is to bring back samples.
"If we have samples in our hands, we can use the latest technologies to analyze them.
"After that, it becomes a case of" we have to go ourselves ".
"But before reporting the samples, we have to ask ourselves," Is there life on Mars? "
"Because if we bring back living organisms that have evolved to survive in a very harsh environment, you let go on Earth and it could be endemic."
Mr. Pillinger added that living organisms could, in the worst case, even infect humans on Earth.
He added, "I would like to bring back many pieces of Mars to Earth, but they could all infect us.
"There are strict laws about it – when you go there [to Mars] you have to make sure the spaceship is sterilized.
"When you come back, you will have to be extra careful when quarantining to check if there is anything that could be harmful to the Earth."
The search for life on Mars was reinforced last week after the European Space Agency (EU) revealed that it had found evidence of ancient rivers.
Finding water has already been dubbed the "Holy Grail" of discoveries for scientists.
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