Not-so-clean rooms: Scientists discover 26 new microbe species in NASA spacecraft facility

NASA's Phoenix Mars lander undergoes a test before its August 2007 launch.

Life, as they say, finds a way — even in the most sterile places on Earth.

Scientists from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California, along with researchers in India and Saudi Arabia, have discovered 26 previously unknown bacterial species in the clean rooms that were used to prep NASA's Phoenix Mars lander for its August 2007 launch.