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

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 ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. More than 50 years after Neil Armstrong first walked on the Moon, space exploration has become almost commonplace. The record for ...

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.

With an increasing number of space missions targeting various celestial bodies, including Mars, Europa, and the Moon, the importance of maintaining the integrity of these environments while protecting ...

Tiny life forms tucked into debris from an asteroid hit could catapult to other planets—including Earth—and survive, a new ...

A global color mosaic shows Neptune’s largest moon, Triton, from images taken by the Voyager 2 spacecraft in August 1989. HELSINKI — China is charting a long-term deep space strategy centered on ...

As humanity embarks on a new era of space exploration, of establishing permanent human bases on the moon and Mars, sustainability must become the bedrock of our exploration efforts beyond Earth. With ...

One exciting part of the Mars 2020 mission – which features the Perseverance rover that landed on Mars last month — is the collection of Mars rocks for possible return to Earth. In order to preserve ...