This article of mine, slightly tweaked for Many Worlds, first appeared today (July 6) in Astrobiology Magazine, http://www.astrobio.net As NASA inches closer to launching new missions to the Solar System’s outer moons in search of life, scientists are renewing their focus on developing a set of universal characteristics of life that can be measured. There …
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"
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"
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"
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"
NASA Panel Supports Life-Detecting Lander for Europa
It has been four long decades since NASA has sent an officially-designated life detection mission into space. The confused results of the Viking missions to Mars in the mid 1970s were so controversial and contradictory that scientists -- or the agency at least -- concluded that the knowledge needed to convincingly search for extraterrestrial life …
Continue reading "NASA Panel Supports Life-Detecting Lander for Europa"
NASA Panel Supports Life-Detecting Lander for Europa
It has been four long decades since NASA has sent an officially-designated life detection mission into space. The confused results of the Viking missions to Mars in the mid 1970s were so controversial and contradictory that scientists -- or the agency at least -- concluded that the knowledge needed to convincingly search for extraterrestrial life …
Continue reading "NASA Panel Supports Life-Detecting Lander for Europa"
More Evidence of Water Plumes On Europa Increases Confidence That They’re For Real
Europa is a moon no bigger than our own and is covered by deep layers of ice, but it brings with it a world of promise. Science fiction master and sometimes space visionary Arthur C. Clarke, after all, named it as the most likely spot in our solar system to harbor life, and wrote a …
More Evidence of Water Plumes On Europa Increases Confidence That They're For Real
Europa is a moon no bigger than our own and is covered by deep layers of ice, but it brings with it a world of promise. Science fiction master and sometimes space visionary Arthur C. Clarke, after all, named it as the most likely spot in our solar system to harbor life, and wrote a …
Many Worlds 