Eu acredito que isso é Manifold: Space por Stephen Baxter. A sinopse é vaga, mas, pelo que me lembro de ler o livro há mais de uma década, as coisas parecem iguais ("... além da própria humanidade", "... Lua, Vênus, até Marte outrora prosperaram com vida ... "," ... cientista japonês Nemoto ... ") combinam com a descrição do OP.
The year is 2020. Fueled by an insatiable curiosity, Reid Malenfant ventures to the far edge of the solar system, where he discovers a strange artifact left behind by an alien civilization: A gateway that functions as a kind of quantum transporter, allowing virtually instantaneous travel over the vast distances of interstellar space. What lies on the other side of the gateway? Malenfant decides to find out. Yet he will soon be faced with an impossible choice that will push him beyond terror, beyond sanity, beyond humanity itself. Meanwhile on Earth the Japanese scientist Nemoto fears her worst nightmares are coming true. Startling discoveries reveal that the Moon, Venus, even Mars once thrived with life?life that was snuffed out not just once but many times, in cycles of birth and destruction.