NASA’s investment in new instruments to analyze extraterrestrial samples is insufficient to provide for replacement of existing instruments, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and […]
Planetary Protection & Biosafety
Posted inAstronauts and Explorers, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Press Release
Space Station Microbes Should Be Monitored To Avoid Threat To Astronaut Health
Strains of the bacterium Enterobacter, similar to newly found opportunistic infectious organisms seen in a few hospital settings, have been identified on the International Space Station (ISS). The strains found […]
Posted inAstrobiology (general), Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, NASA Astrobiology Program, Origin & Evolution of Life, People Of Astrobiology, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Reports, Roadmaps, & Plans, SETI & Technosignatures, Status Report
Report: An Astrobiology Strategy For The Search For Life In The Universe
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences; Space Studies Board; Committee on Astrobiology Science Strategy for the Search for Life in the Universe.
Posted inPlanetary Protection & Biosafety, Press Release
Report: Review and Assessment of Planetary Protection Policy Development Processes
Protecting Earth’s environment and other solar system bodies from harmful contamination has been an important principle throughout the history of space exploration. For decades, the scientific, political, and economic conditions […]
Posted inPlanetary Protection & Biosafety, Press Release
Report: Review and Assessment of Planetary Protection Policy Development Processes
The current process for planetary protection policy development is inadequate to respond to increasingly complex solar system exploration missions, says a new report. The report “Review and Assessment of Planetary […]
Posted inPlanetary Protection & Biosafety, Press Release
Hardy Organisms Threaten Interplanetary Contamination
In professor George Fox’s lab at the University of Houston, scientists are studying Earth germs that could be contaminating other planets. Despite extreme decontamination efforts, bacterial spores from Earth still […]
Posted inPlanetary Protection & Biosafety, Press Release
Cleaning ExoMars 2020 Rover For Mars
A ground penetrating radar antenna for ESA’s ExoMars 2020 rover being pre-cleaned in an ultra-cleanroom environment in preparation for its sterilisation process, in an effort to prevent terrestrial microbes coming […]
Posted inPlanetary Protection & Biosafety, Press Release
The Goals, Rationales, and Definition of Planetary Protection: Interim Report (2017)
Description: Solar system exploration is in an extraordinary state of expansion. Scientific capabilities to search for evidence of extant or relic life outside Earth–among the principal goals of solar system […]
Posted inPlanetary Protection & Biosafety
The Goals, Rationales, and Definition of Planetary Protection: Interim Report
In this time of rapid transition in exploring solar system bodies, the importance of reexamining planetary protection policies, including the need for clarity in how NASA establishes such policies, has […]
Posted inMars, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Press Release
Planetary Protection For Human Missions to Mars
Since the dawn of space travel, nations from around the world have shown a commitment to protecting objects in the Solar System from contamination carried from the Earth and into […]