Calling the Planetary Police

Today’s astrobiologists face a difficult task when building a contamination-free spacecraft. By the rules of planetary protection, the more likely a location is to harbor life, the more difficult it is to visit. Researchers are now working on new ways of sterilizing spacecraft built on Earth in the hopes that soon no place in the solar system will be off limits for exploration. A special feature concerning their work was recently published in the journal Nature.

Source: [Nature]

June 8, 2009 / Posted by: Aaron Gronstal

Alien Safari Part 5: Alien vs. Predator

At the most recent NASA Astrobiology Science Conference, a panel of scientists discussed different types of planets where we might find alien life. In the fifth segment of this series, the panelists address questions from the audience about the search for life on Mars and elsewhere.

Source: [Astrobiology Magazine]

March 16, 2009 / Posted by: Aaron Gronstal

Surviving STS-107

Rocco Mancinelli, PI of NAI’s SETI Institute Lead Team, and member of NAI’s NASA Ames Research Center Lead Team joined researchers from KSC and Ames, as well as NAI’s Former Director, Barry Blumberg, in studying populations of C. Elegans which survived the atmospheric breakup of STS-107 during it’s fatal re-entry. Their results are published in Astrobiology. Five canisters were recovered, and live animals were observed in four of them. This demonstrates not only the ability of the culture medium to support the organisms during spaceflight, but also the ability of the animals to...

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Source: [Link]

January 12, 2006 / Posted by: Shige Abe