NASA has posted a position in the Science Mission Directorate for the Planetary Protection Officer. It has a very short response time, with applications due by June 25, 2014. NOTE: […]
Planetary Protection & Biosafety
Posted inPanspermia, Planetary Protection & Biosafety
Could Life Hitch a Ride to Saturn and Jupiter?
A new study supported by the NASA Astrobiology Institute suggests that the possibility of life being transferred from the inner solar system to the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, although […]
Posted inMars, Planetary Protection & Biosafety
Planetary Protection: Preventing Microbial Hitchhiking
While astronauts might dream of discovering unknown life one day in their future career, ESA’s Planetary Protection Officer oversees activities that achieve it on a regular basis. As part of […]
Posted inExtremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Planetary Protection & Biosafety
Rare New Microbe Found in Two Distant Clean Rooms
A rare, recently discovered microbe that survives on very little to eat has been found in two places on Earth: spacecraft clean rooms in Florida and South America. Image: This […]
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life, Panspermia, Planetary Protection & Biosafety
Could Life Have Survived a Fall to Earth?
It sounds like science fiction, but the theory of panspermia, in which life can naturally transfer between planets, is considered a serious hypothesis by planetary scientists. The suggestion that life […]
Posted inMars, Planetary Protection & Biosafety
Sterilized Mars Spacecraft Largely a Waste of Money
Writing in the journal Nature Geoscience, astrobiologists Alberto Fairen of Cornell University and Dirk Schulze-Makuch of Washington State University say the NASA Office of Planetary Protection’s “detailed and expensive” efforts […]
Posted inMissions & Hardware, Panspermia, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Sample Return, Status Report
NASA Policy Directive: NPD 8020.7G Biological Contamination Control for Outbound and Inbound Planetary Spacecraft
NPD 8020.7GEffective Date: February 19, 1999Expiration Date: February 19, 2018 Subject: Biological Contamination Control for Outbound and Inbound PlanetarySpacecraft (Revalidated 05/17/13 w/change 1)
Posted inPlanetary Protection & Biosafety
Planetary Protection: A Work in Progress
For the past few years, a research team in Antarctica has been drilling through several miles of ice in an effort to reach Lake Vostok. Lake Vostok is the largest […]
Posted inMissions & Hardware, Panspermia, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Policy, Sample Return, Status Report
NASA Policy Instruction NASA Policy on Planetary Protection Requirements for Human Extraterrestrial Missions – NPI 8020.7 – NPD 8020.7G
In May 2012, the Planetary Protection Subcommittee of the NASA Advisory Council (NAC) Science Committee formulated a recommendation that NASA Procedural Requirements (NPR) be developed for planetary protection on human […]
Posted inPlanetary Protection & Biosafety
ROSES-12 Amendment 1: Due Dates Changed for Appendix C.18, The Planetary Protection Research Program.
Planetary protection involves preventing biological contamination on both outbound and sample return missions to other planetary bodies. Numerous areas of research in astrobiology/exobiology are improving our understanding of the potential […]