That includes cleanrooms where spacecrafts are assembled. These places are designed to minimize dust and microorganisms in ...

Any project, supported or not by a committee, that is currently being worked on or is considered active, and will have an end date. The Committee on Planetary Protection (CoPP) monitors progress ...

WE CONTAIN MULTITUDES NASA allows no more than 300,000 spores (single-celled organisms) to accompany robotic missions that land on Mars. Human bodies, in comparison, contain trillions of ...

In the clean room of the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, scientists wear suits and masks while working on the Mars 2020 rover to avoid contamination. Credit: NASA/JPL ...

It's every astronomer's worst nightmare: a future crewed mission to Mars or even beyond goes terribly awry when astronauts contaminate another planet with destructive microbes from Earth, devastating ...

More than 50 years after Neil Armstrong first walked on the Moon, space exploration has become almost commonplace. The record for most space launches in a single year has been broken every year for ...

Protecting planets from extraterrestrial invasion might sound like a job that only exists in science fiction. But NASA recently posted a "Help Wanted" ad for exactly this position, under the name ...

HOUSTON—The concept of planetary protection—the prevention of life forms on other planets from infecting Earth and preventing terrestrial life forms from contaminating other worlds—has a long history.

Mars Sample Return campaign makes use of an armada of hardware to collect Martian soil, rock, and atmospheric specimens for return to Earth. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech. Now underway is a ...

Due Dates Changed for the Planetary Protection Research Program By SpaceRef Editor March 12, 2012 Filed under Astrobiology, Planetary Exploration Newsletter, US ...

The Committee on Planetary Protection (CoPP) monitors progress implementing the planetary protection guidelines associated with priority programs and missions identified in the National Academies ...