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Published online 20 May 2009 | Nature 459, 308-309 (2009) | doi:10.1038/459308a
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The planetary police
Planetary scientists are looking for new ways to sterilize their spacecraft, so that they won't be excluded from exploring interesting places. Eric Hand reports.
In 1975, the twin Viking landers sped off to Mars as the most sparklingly clean things ever put into space. If either was to have any chance of detecting microbial life in its scoops of Martian soil, it couldn't risk carrying stowaways from its launchpad at Cape Canaveral.
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