The only time that a formally designated NASA "life detection" mission was flown to another planet or moon was when the two Viking landers headed to Mars forty years ago. The odds of finding some kind of Martian life seemed so promising at the time that there was little dispute about how much energy, money …
Continue reading "Planetary Protection is a "Wicked" Problem"
The only time that a formally designated NASA "life detection" mission was flown to another planet or moon was when the two Viking landers headed to Mars forty years ago. The odds of finding some kind of Martian life seemed so promising at the time that there was little dispute about how much energy, money …
Continue reading "Planetary Protection is a "Wicked" Problem"
We live in a dangerous universe. We know about meteor and comets, about harmful radiation that could extinguish life without an electromagnetic shield, about major changes in climate that are both natural and man-made. There’s another risk out there that some scientists assert could cause large-scale extinctions even though it would occur scores of light-years …
We live in a dangerous universe. We know about meteor and comets, about harmful radiation that could extinguish life without an electromagnetic shield, about major changes in climate that are both natural and man-made. There’s another risk out there that some scientists assert could cause large-scale extinctions even though it would occur scores of light-years …
As I prepare for the Astrobiology Science Conference (Abscicon) next week in Arizona, I'm struck by how many speakers will be discussing Europa missions, Europa science, ocean worlds and habitability under ice. NASA's Europa Clipper mission to orbit that moon, scheduled for launch to the Jupiter system in the mid 2020s, explains part of the …
Continue reading "NASA Panel Supports Life-Detecting Lander for Europa; Updated"
As I prepare for the Astrobiology Science Conference (Abscicon) next week in Arizona, I'm struck by how many speakers will be discussing Europa missions, Europa science, ocean worlds and habitability under ice. NASA's Europa Clipper mission to orbit that moon, scheduled for launch to the Jupiter system in the mid 2020s, explains part of the …
Continue reading "NASA Panel Supports Life-Detecting Lander for Europa; Updated"
Many Worlds 