The ultimate goal of planetary protection for outbound missions is to prevent harmful contamination that would inhibit future measurements designed to search fo

Under U.S. policy and international treaty, the goals of planetary protection are to avoid both adverse changes in Earth’s environment caused by introduc

An international consensus policy to prevent the biological cross-contamination of planetary bodies exists and is maintained by the Committee on Space Research

NASA's exploration of planets and satellites during the past 50 years has led to the discovery of traces of water ice throughout the solar system and prospects

Protecting Earth's environment and other solar system bodies from harmful contamination has been an important principle throughout the history of space explorat