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by jcarreiro
5054 days ago
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This is part of NASA's Planetary Protection directive [1]. Their goal is to ensure that we do not inadvertently contaminate the pristine environments that we visit with our spacecraft. If we did, we would be destroying an invaluable scientific resource! They are also responsible for ensuring that samples returned to Earth from outer space are handled safely. [1] http://planetaryprotection.nasa.gov |
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