Planetary Protection & Biosafety Archives

Curation teams process the sample return capsule from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission in a cleanroom, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023, at the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range. Credit: NASA/Keegan Barber

Analog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Exploration Gear & Tech, Fossils & Paleontology, Meteorites & Asteroids, Microbiology & Virology, Missions & Hardware, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Sample Return, Status Report

Community Need For An Astrobiology Sample Repository And Sample Reference Suite – NASA DARES White Paper

by Keith CowingApril 8, 2025July 5, 2025

As we prepare for the next planetary mission charged with finding life beyond Earth, the Astrobiology community must continue to improve its understanding of what constitutes a biosignature, through the […]

Juliane Gross examines lunar samples returned by Apollo 17 in Johnson Space Center’s Lunar Sample Laboratory Facility. -- NASA

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Cryobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, People Of Astrobiology, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Polar / Alpine Expeditions, Press Release, Sample Return

Meet Dr. Juliane Gross, Artemis Campaign Sample Curation Lead

by Keith CowingApril 3, 2025April 3, 2025

Based at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Division, or ARES, curates the most extensive collection of extraterrestrial materials on Earth, ranging from microscopic […]

Example of alt-azimuth grid overlay on the Heredia dashboard camera video. Perspective lines on the road define the position of the horizon, and the orientation of a lamp post in different video frames (white lines left, slightly bend halfway up) and features on buildings (right) defines the rotation to normal. The flare elevation (assuming an altitude of 25.1 km) defines the scale. In this case, the camera's central azimuth changed over time and the meteor path in the central frame shown was adjusted using the meteor wake as guidance. -- astro-ph.EP

Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Impact events, Meteorites & Asteroids, Panspermia, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Status Report

Orbit, Meteoroid Size, And Cosmic Ray Exposure History Of The Aguas Zarcas CM2 Breccia

by Keith CowingApril 2, 2025April 2, 2025

The Aguas Zarcas (Costa Rica) CM2 carbonaceous chondrite fell during night time in April 2019. Security and dashboard camera video of the meteor were analyzed to provide a trajectory, lightcurve, […]

Rosalind Franklin landing on Mars -- ESA

Away Teams & Field Reports, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Tricorders & Sensors

ExoMars Rosalind Franklin Astrobiology Rover Will Have A European Landing Platform

by Keith CowingMarch 31, 2025March 31, 2025

The European Space Agency (ESA) has selected Airbus to design and build the landing platform for the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover. In 2028, ESA will launch this ambitious exploration mission […]

The Expose-R2 facility on the International Space Station. As part of ESA’s Expose-R2 project, 46 species of bacteria, fungi and arthropods are inside those containers as they spend 18 months bolted to the outside of the International Space Station. The vacuum of space is sucking out the water, oxygen and other gases in the samples. Their temperature can drop to –12°C as the Station passes through Earth’s shadow, rising to 40°C at other times, and undergoing a similar process to the freeze-drying used to preserve foods. The Expose experiments are exploring the limits of terrestrial life, whether the organisms can survive in space and how the full blast of solar radiation is affecting accompanying chemicals. -- ESA (larger image)

Analog Studies, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Cryobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Microbiology & Virology, Microgravity, Missions & Hardware, Panspermia, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Space Stations, Status Report, Tricorders & Sensors

ISS Astrobiology Research: Photochemical Evolution of Alanine in Association with the Martian Soil Analog Montmorillonite

by Keith CowingMarch 30, 2025March 30, 2025

The Photochemistry on the Space Station (PSS) experiment was part of the European Space Agency’s EXPOSE-R2 mission and was conducted on the International Space Station from 2014 to 2016. The […]

The radiants in RA and Dec of the 472 fastest (vhel ≧ 44 km s−1 ) events along with the radiants of some known meteor showers and some relevant fiducial directions such as the Galactic Center. For the showers, the 10 most active annual IAU meteors showers that are seen by GMN (that is, that contain significant mm sized particles) and that have in-atmosphere speeds below 50 km/s. Directional values: the position of the Galactic Center (Reid & Brunthaler 2004); the Solar apex with respect to the Local Standard of Rest (LSR) (Jaschek & Valbousquet 1992); the Solar apex with respect to the Galactic frame (Solar Galactic Apex); and the interstellar dust (ISD) influx direction into the Solar System as reported by spacecraft Cassini, Ulysses, and Galileo, due to the motion of the Solar System through the Local Interstellar Cloud (LIC) (Sterken et al. 2012). No strong signature of the Galaxy or of meteor showers is seen. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrogeology, Comets and Asteroids, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Impact events, Interstellar, Meteorites & Asteroids, Panspermia, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Status Report, Stellar Cartography

An Upper Limit on the Interstellar Meteoroid Flux at Video Sizes from the Global Meteor Network

by Keith CowingMarch 27, 2025March 27, 2025

Material arriving at our solar system from the Galaxy may be detected at Earth in the form of meteors ablating in our atmosphere. Here we report on a search for […]

Curiosity's view of Gale Crater during the 2018 global dust storm on Mars showing a decrease in visibility from 8 June 2018 (Sol 2075) to 18 June 2018 (Sol 2085) (NASA/JPL-Caltech/York University, 2019).

Away Teams & Field Reports, Life Support Systems, Mars, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Space Physiology & Medicine, Status Report

Martian Dust And Future Human Space Exploration

by Keith CowingMarch 19, 2025March 19, 2025

The challenges of human space exploration produce some of humanity’s greatest technological and scientific advances, not excluding innovations in medicine.

Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Sample Return, Status Report

Announcement of Opportunities for International Collaboration of Mars Sample Return Mission Tianwen-3

by Keith CowingMarch 12, 2025

Schedule LOI Due June 30, 2025Initial Selection July-August 2025Proposal Due September 30, 2025Confirmation October 2025 Announcement of Opportunities for International Collaboration of Mars Sample Return Mission (Tianwen-3)

Photographs of a nontronite-bearing fracture in the thin section from the rock core interior (a–c) with increasing magnification. Intensity maps of optical photothermal infrared (O-PTIR) spectra in a region highlighted with a yellow square in Fig. 2c at 1000 cm−1 (d) and 1530 cm−1(e). O-PTIR spectra from duplicate analyses of pink points in Fig.. 2(c)–(e), co-cultured cells of Nanoarchaeota strain MJ1 and Metallosphaera sp. strain MJ1HA (JCM33617) and cultured cells of Escherichia coli (NBRC13168) and LR White resin (f). Peak assignment was based on Movasaghi et al. (Reference Movasaghi, Rehman and Rehman2008) and Ellerbrock et al. (Reference Ellerbrock, Stein and Schaller2022) and references therein.-- The University of Tokyo

Mars, Missions & Hardware, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Press Release, Sample Return

The Chances Of Anything Coming From Mars

by Keith CowingMarch 6, 2025

Within the next decade, space agencies plan to bring samples of rock from Mars to Earth for study. Of concern is the possibility these samples contain life, which could have […]

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover took this selfie in July 2024. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)

Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Sample Return

Documenting The First Mars Mission Soil Samples

by Keith CowingFebruary 7, 2025February 7, 2025

A new paper released today documents the first soil, airfall dust, and rock fragment samples collected by NASA for return from Mars. We checked in with the UNLV astrobiologist leading […]

Planetary Protection & Biosafety

Community Need For An Astrobiology Sample Repository And Sample Reference Suite – NASA DARES White Paper

Meet Dr. Juliane Gross, Artemis Campaign Sample Curation Lead

Orbit, Meteoroid Size, And Cosmic Ray Exposure History Of The Aguas Zarcas CM2 Breccia

ExoMars Rosalind Franklin Astrobiology Rover Will Have A European Landing Platform

ISS Astrobiology Research: Photochemical Evolution of Alanine in Association with the Martian Soil Analog Montmorillonite

An Upper Limit on the Interstellar Meteoroid Flux at Video Sizes from the Global Meteor Network

Martian Dust And Future Human Space Exploration

Announcement of Opportunities for International Collaboration of Mars Sample Return Mission Tianwen-3

The Chances Of Anything Coming From Mars

Documenting The First Mars Mission Soil Samples

NASA Establishes Mars Forward Operational Risk and Contamination Evaluation (M-FORCE) Tiger Team to Shape Mars Planetary Protection Protocols

Opportunity to Contribute to NASA DARES Community White Paper on Phototrophic Biosignatures

The Search For Life Elsewhere: Avoiding Hype and Fostering Public Understanding

Panchromatic Spectra of Nearby Low-mass and Sun-like Stars with Directly Imageable Habitable Zones

Alfred: A Flexible, User-Friendly Python Package for Exoplanet Confirmation