"If there is an indigenous Mars biota, it's at risk of being contaminated by terrestrial life," said Jay Melosh, a professor of earth, atmospheric and planetary sciences at Purdue University. "Would Earth's organisms be better adapted, take over Mars and contaminate it so we don't know what indigenous Mars was like, or would they be not as well adapted as the Martian organisms? We don't know." "Even if they radiated the outside, the engine would be dirty," says Melosh. "Cars aren't assembled clean. And even then, there's a big difference between clean and sterile." Of course, the Roadster is in a heliocentric orbit that will likely keep it circling the Sun for tens of millions of years until the gravitational influence of Earth, Mars, and Jupiter disturb it. NASA's Office of Planetary Protection makes sure spacecraft planning to land on other planets are sterile. Such conditions will kill any bacteria on the car's surface, and as the plastic body disintegrates under this cosmic onslaught, there will be fewer places to hide. Alina Alexeenko, a professor of aeronautics and astronautics at Purdue, works in a lab that specializes in freeze-drying bacteria and biologics.
– In the small chance that Elon Musk's space-exploring Tesla Roadster comes crashing back to Earth, experts say the planet will be just fine. It's a different story with Mars, where the car could become what one scientist calls a "biothreat." The Tesla, in a large orbit around the sun, is unlikely to get too close to Mars in the distant future, and if it does, it'll likely burn up in Mars' atmosphere. But Purdue University scientists say that even traces of the vehicle could contaminate or wipe out indigenous life on the Red Planet, should it exist. That's because, unlike spacecraft intended to land on celestial bodies, the Tesla did not undergo careful sterilization overseen by NASA's Office of Planetary Protection. With New Atlas pointing out the car was driven on public roads, scientists are calling it "the largest load of earthly bacteria to ever enter space." "Even if they radiated the outside, the engine would be dirty," researcher Jay Melosh says in a release. "Cars aren't assembled clean. And even then, there's a big difference between clean and sterile." Life in space, with its extreme temperatures, low pressure, and cosmic radiation, will help kill some earthly bacteria. But some could lay dormant for millennia. Noting her office had little involvement in the launch of the Tesla, Planetary Protection Officer Lisa Pratt tells Space News that future commercial space missions will present similar problems, as it's "virtually impossible for a commercial mission to meet" current sterilization requirements for spacecraft. "We have to figure out how to work closely, how to move forward in a collaborative posture so we don't have another red Roadster up there in orbit." (Scientists are also annoyed by a fake star.)