The prospect, no matter how remote, that a space probe launched from Earth may "contaminate" another planet with Earthly microbes, is concerning some scientists, especially once technology allowing unmanned spacecraft to travel to nearby star systems is developed. However far in the future such technologies may be, it is worth thinking about the potential problem of contaminating other solar systems with Earth life, according to a new paper by Charles ... Read full entry

Something weird is happening out on the boundary, or Kuiper Belt, of our solar system, where space probes Pioneers 10 and 11 have now made their way. Both deep space probes, launched over thirty years ago, traversed the inner region of the solar system almost exactly according to plan.Since passing beyond the orbit of outermost planet Pluto, events have taken an ... Read full entry