Posted on by Laurence Tognetti

Planetary Protection: Why study it? What can it teach us about finding life beyond Earth?

Credit: NASA

Universe Today has recently investigated a plethora of scientific disciplines, including impact craters, planetary surfaces, exoplanets, astrobiology, solar physics, comets, planetary atmospheres, planetary geophysics, cosmochemistry, meteorites, radio astronomy, extremophiles, organic chemistry, black holes, and cryovolcanism, while conveying their importance of how each of them continues to teach researchers and the public about our place in the vast universe.

Continue reading “Planetary Protection: Why study it? What can it teach us about finding life beyond Earth?”
Posted on by Evan Gough

A NASA Panel Says We Don’t Need to be so Careful About Infecting Other Worlds

This artist's concept depicts NASA's Mars 2020 rover exploring Mars. Credit: NASA

It’s time to update the rules. That’s the conclusion of a panel that examined NASA’s rules for planetary protection. It was smart, at the dawn of the space age, to think about how we might inadvertently pollute other worlds with Earthly microbes as we explore the Solar System. But now that we know a lot more than we did back then, the rules don’t fit.

Continue reading “A NASA Panel Says We Don’t Need to be so Careful About Infecting Other Worlds”