DNA analysis has revealed that 26 novel species of "extremophile" bacteria were lurking in a clean room that housed NASA's Phoenix lander before it was launched to Mars in 2007. The hardy microbes ...

Sterilizing robotic spacecraft to prevent contamination is one thing, but sterilizing human beings is impossible. We are ...

Accidental contamination shows how even NASA missions can send resilient Earth microbes to other planets, risking false ...

But his detailed budget request for the fiscal year 2026 also proposed cancelling dozens of the space agency’s missions, ...

a new study reveals. Some of the hardy microbes may be capable of surviving the vacuum of space. However, there is no evidence that the spacecraft or Mars were contaminated. NASA's Phoenix Mars ...