Exploring Mars: How scientists prevent Earth's microbes from contaminating other planets

The article specifies our contamination protocols and our concerns; it's informative and welcome information. But now in the midst of a pandemic, one has to pause and ask "What else should be done, what could go wrong, what more has to be done, and how effective are our protocols? (especially for backwards contamination). I've always thought that venturing into space and extraterrestrial landscapes is a "roll of the dice" as far as forward and backward contamination. But that was a secondary consideration, because cost and technology are limits upon our capabilities. Those limits are now is changing.
 

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