The following online news articles present discussions relevant to various aspects of planetary protection. While all attempts are made to verify the links to the articles, NASA is not responsible in the event that an article is no longer maintained in an archive. Note that some online services require registration before their archives can be searched, and may additionally require payment to retrieve an archived article.
Events
NEW DATES FOR PP COURSE:
Planetary Protection Course: Policies and Practices
Space Life Sciences Laboratory, Kennedy Space Center, FL 32899
March 12-14, 2013
Planetary Protection Subcommittee Meeting
NASA Headquarters
December 19-20, 2012
Summary of Upcoming Meeting Details
Life Detection Workshop (Mars Sample Return)
San Diego, Feb. 15-17, 2012
Workshop Details
Conference Details
News Sites
NASA’s Astrobiology News Page:
http://astrobiology.nasa.gov
NASA Tech Briefs:
http://www.techbriefs.com/
General News
Tune in here as NASA’s GRAIL spacecraft crash into the moon
LA Times, December 17, 2012
New age of exploration in the hunt for extreme life
BBC News, December 4, 2012
The Mercury plummets! Nasa probe reveals planet closest to the sun has ice and frozen organic materials at its north pole
Daily Mail, November 29, 2012
“Manned Mars Missions Could Threaten Red Planet Life”
Space.com, October 24, 2012
http://www.space.com/18194-mars-life-manned-mission-impacts.html
“Genome hunters go after martian DNA”
RealClearTechnology.com, October 18, 2012
http://www.realcleartechnology.com/2012/10/18/genome_hunters_go_after_martian_dna_8762.html
“If the Mars rover finds water, it could be H2 … uh oh!”
LA Times, September 9, 2012
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/sep/09/local/la-me-mars-contaminate-20120910
Steve Martin (the comedian) tweets about planetary protection!
http://twitter.com/MarsCuriosity/status/233288365510914048
“Experimental Modeling of Sterilization Effects for Atmospheric Entry Heating on Microorganisms”
NASA Tech Briefs, August 1, 2012
http://www.techbriefs.com/component/content/article/14236
“Employing a Grinding Technology to Assess the Microbial Density for Encapsulated Organisms”
NASA Tech Briefs, July 1, 2012
http://www.techbriefs.com/component/content/article/14066
“Phobos-Grunt: Failed probe falls over Pacific’”
BBC News Jan. 15, 2012
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16491457
“Don’t send bugs to Mars” (Phobos-Grunt & Planetary Protection)
New Scientist Dec. 28, 2010
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20827924.300-dont-send-bugs-to-mars.ht
“When biospheres collide: a history of NASA’s planetary protection programs”
NASA Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2010
NASA E-Book
“Nasa’s Grail twins to make gravity maps”
BBC News, September 10, 2011
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14825641
“NASA’s Juno spacecraft heads to Jupiter with solar power”
Energy Harvesting Journal, August 31, 2011
http://www.energyharvestingjournal.com/articles/nasas-juno-spacecraft-heads-to-jupiter-with-solar-power-00003710.asp?sessionid=1
“Mars Science Laboratory: engineers, scientists tackle challenges”
SPACE.com,
June 7, 2006
http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/060607_msl_scientists.html
“Planetary protection study group mulls life on Venus”
SPACE.com, February 21, 2006
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/060221_venus_life.html
“Earth life could invade Mars on contaminated craft”
NewScientist, July 28, 2005
http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn7745-earth-life-could-invade-mars-on-contaminated-craft.html
“Martian life might threaten human mission”
New Scientist, June 20, 2005
http://www.newscientistspace.com/article/dn7544.html
“Earth microbes may survive on Mars”
New Scientist, June 2, 2005
http://www.newscientistspace.com/article/dn7454-earth-microbes-may-survive-on-mars.html
“Planetary uncertainty principle”
Astrobiology Magazine, June 21, 2004
http://www.astrobio.net/news/print.php?sid=1029
“Not on my planet: real-life man in black thwarts alien invaders”
Stanford Magazine, May/June 2004
http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2004/mayjun/dept/job.html
“A galactic warrior, with hypothetical enemies”
University of Missouri, April 24, 2004
http://www.missouri.edu/~chemrg/current_news/Article_Planet_Police.html
“Your planetary protection officer; what on Earth does he do?”
Slate.com, April 20, 2004
http://slate.msn.com/id/2099222/
“Life on Mars – but ‘we sent it’”
New Scientist, March 25, 2004
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn4812.html
“Crabs in space”
New Scientist, March 13, 2004
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg18124385.500.html (registration
required to access full text)
“Cleaning up after Martian exploration”
The Space Review, August 2003
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/43/1
“Alien infection”
Astrobiology Magazine, August 2003
http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=570
“Japan’s Nozomi Mars probe stirs contamination qualms”
SPACE.com, July 3, 2003
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/nozomi_fears_030703.html
“Mars Exploration Rover spacecraft undergo biological testing and cleaning prior to June launches”
NASA News, May 23, 2003
http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/release/2003/37-03.htm
“Planetary protection: an integral part of mission preparations”
SPACE.com, May 1, 2003
http://www.space.com/searchforlife/seti_race_protect_0230501.html
“Profiles: Space Man”
Red Herring, August 2002
http://www.virtuallystrange.net/ufo/updates/2002/aug/m06-017.shtml
(subscription required)
“Law, ethics, and extra-terrestrial life”
Space Daily, October 1, 2001
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/life-01zg2.html
“Martian microbes”
ABC [Australian Broadcast System]
News, September 20, 2001
http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s370532.htm
“The stowaways”
Nature Magazine, September 20, 2001
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v413/n6853/pdf/413247a0.pdf
(registration required to search archive)
“A job for our ‘planetary protection officer’”
Christian Science Monitor, May 31, 2001
http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/0531/p2s1.html
“Mars attacks? Protecting Earth from off-world infections”
space.com, April 4, 2001
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/missions/mars_contamination_010404.html
“Interstellar invaders: protecting the Earth”
SPACE.com, September 11, 2000
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/planetary_protection_000906.html
“Scientists try to avoid germ scare on Jupiter moon”
SPACE.com, June 20, 2000
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/europa_contamination_000620.html
“Sample return missions scare some researchers”
SPACE.com, April 9, 2000
http://www.space.com/searchforlife/planet_protection_000407.html
“Defender of the planet”
New Scientist, September 18, 1999
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg16322045.100.html
“Bring ‘em back alive – or at least carefully: planetary protection provisions for solar system exploration missions”
Ad Astra Magazine, 1999
http://www.astrobiology.com/adastra/bring.em.back.html
