NASA’s multibillion-dollar Mars Science Laboratory is purposely hurtling through deep space on a course that would miss the red planet by tens of thousands of miles.

The Centaur upper stage of the Atlas V rocket that launched the lab was not put through super-stringent sterilization processes to ensure no Earthly microbes would be hitching a ride through interplanetary space. So NASA wants to ensure it doesn’t crash land on Mars, spreading microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, algae, plankton or planarian.

The NASA officials ultimately determined that pre-launch tests to assess levels of organic contamination showed the bits nonetheless met cleanliness standards. Scientists involved in the mission are not interested in finding signs of life on Mars that evolved back on earth.

Source: FloridaToday.com