COSPAR Panel on Planetary Protection

Homepage - 46th COSPAR 2026 The 46th COSPAR Scientific Assembly will be held in Florence, Italy, 1 – 9 August 2026

Consider submitting an abstract to one of 3 Planetary Protection events at the 46th COSPAR Scientific Assembly (COSPAR 2026) cospar2026.org. The abstract deadline is 13 February! The events are:
COSPAR-26-PPP.1: Policy
COSPAR-26-PPP.2: Research and Development
COSPAR-26-PPP.3: Future of PP for Mars

Spacecraft exhaust may erase clues to life's origins on the Moon As lunar missions increase, scientists warn that spacecraft exhaust may contaminate sensitive regions of the moon faster than expected.

Recent study shows risk to science on the Moon www.earth.com/news/spacecr...

Your Wait for These Space Events Is About to Pay Off

Lots of cool activities coming up in 2026 www.nytimes.com/2025/12/30/s...

Introduction to Planetary Protection As we explore the Solar System, it is important that we do not accidentally contaminate untouched and unspoilt extraterrestrial environments in any way. In this free course you will learn about ‘...

Great free Planetary Protection course developed at the Open University. www.open.edu/openlearn/sc... #space #planetary

European Space Agency Planetary Protection training will be held 30th Sept – 2nd October, as usual in Stuttgart (Fraunhofer Institute). www.ipa.fraunhofer.de/en/Events/20...

China Could Bring Mars Rocks to Earth Before NASA—And It's Happening Fast China is quietly racing ahead in the quest to return Mars rocks—what makes its strategy so effective, and could it change the future of space exploration?

Moving fast indeed. China participates in the PPP and we will be having a detailed exchange on their planetary protection plans for this mission. dailygalaxy.com/2025/07/chin...

Martian dust may pose health risk to humans exploring red planet, study finds Expeditions may be more challenging than previously thought due to presence of toxic particles

New study out showing Mars Dust could be problematic for astronauts. Link to the actual study in the Guardian article. #scicomm 🧪
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

Active plasma sterilizer for planetary protection and contamination control for space missions - Scientific Reports Scientific Reports - Active plasma sterilizer for planetary protection and contamination control for space missions

www.nature.com/articles/s41...