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We all know that washing our hands prevents germs from spreading and is the number one preventive in the health care field for disease prevention. A simple habit, only soap and water or an alcohol-based sanitizer that does not require water is used, which makes the practice excellent while in space. With infectious diseases spreading through hand-to-hand contact, NASA has developed a plan for the astronauts who are onboard the International Space Station in order to keep humans from contaminating the sands of Mars in the future.

"We conducted the tests using LOCAD-PTS, a miniature biological lab for space travelers," explains Jake Maule, principal investigator for the experiment. LOCAD-PTS stands for Lab-On-A-Chip Application Development Portable Test System. Before STS-119 crew members Steve Swanson and Richard Arnold exited the International Space Station airlock to install the station's new solar arrays, astronaut Sandy Magnus swabbed their gloves with LOCAD's high-tech 'Q-tip' and then tested that Q-tip for microbes. The procedure was repeated when the astronauts re-entered the space station more than six hours later."

The NASA test that was ran is called the LOCAD-PTS Exploration Experiment because NASA is planning on traveling to Mars in the future, with the experiment important in keeping the red planet germ-free from human micro-organisms from Earth. With Mars explorers bringing back geological samples for analysis, every procedure will need to be efficient and streamlined in order to adequately develop a 10-second swab and a 15-minute processing time.

The ISS astronauts officially checked themselves for microbes before stepping outside on a space walk but because they could take the LOCAD Q-tip outside the space station, spacesuit gloves were checked instead. Handrails and gap spanners were checked by the LOCAD team or any area which they had touched. Preparing for future explorers of Mars to monitor and restrict any biological contamination during spacecraft outings is of high priority when astronauts are preparing, during or after leaving their spacecrafts. Narrowing it down a bit, the investigations are to discover whether or not anything found is from (1) a native Martian life form or (2) fungi from a human source. Right now, the swabbing of a STS-119 crew member on March 19, 2009 is still in the experimental stages but as time goes on, the future of Mars may be made more secure.

The Discovery space shuttle with crew members STS-119 arrived at the International Space Station on Tuesday, March 17th, to deliver the final solar arrays and associated truss segment to the orbiting outpost. Returning home onboard the Discovery space shuttle will be the freezer, or the General Laboratory Active Cryogenic ISS Experiment Refrigerator (GLACIER) which is controlled by the satellite hookup form Alabama's ground station.

Used for preserving biological experiments, such blood samples, cell cultures and other experiments—it will be analyzed on Earth upon its return. With the current ISS GLACIER completely full, a new experiment-cooler will be installed at the station. What the freezer is full of has been influenced by cosmic rays, microgravity, emissions and space conditions.