%0 Book %A National Research Council %T Assessment of Planetary Protection Requirements for Spacecraft Missions to Icy Solar System Bodies %@ 978-0-309-25675-9 %D 2012 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/13401/assessment-of-planetary-protection-requirements-for-spacecraft-missions-to-icy-solar-system-bodies %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/13401/assessment-of-planetary-protection-requirements-for-spacecraft-missions-to-icy-solar-system-bodies %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Space and Aeronautics %P 94 %X NASA's exploration of planets and satellites during the past 50 years has led to the discovery of traces of water ice throughout the solar system and prospects for large liquid water reservoirs beneath the frozen ICE shells of multiple satellites of the giant planets of the outer solar system. During the coming decades, NASA and other space agencies will send flybys, orbiters, subsurface probes, and, possibly, landers to these distant worlds in order to explore their geologic and chemical context. Because of their potential to harbor alien life, NASA will select missions that target the most habitable outer solar system objects. This strategy poses formidable challenges for mission planners who must balance the opportunity for exploration with the risk of contamination by Earth's microbes, which could confuse the interpretation of data obtained from these objects. The 2000 NRC report Preventing the Forward Contamination of Europa provided a criterion that was adopted with prior recommendations from the Committee on Space Research of the International Council for Science. This current NRC report revisits and extends the findings and recommendations of the 2000 Europa report in light of recent advances in planetary and life sciences and, among other tasks, assesses the risk of contamination of icy bodies in the solar system. %0 Book %A National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine %T Report Series: Committee on Planetary Protection: Evaluation of Bioburden Requirements for Mars Missions %@ 978-0-309-27069-4 %D 2021 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/26336/report-series-committee-on-planetary-protection-evaluation-of-bioburden-requirements %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/26336/report-series-committee-on-planetary-protection-evaluation-of-bioburden-requirements %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Space and Aeronautics %P 88 %X Since the 1980s, national and international planetary protection policies have sought to avoid contamination by terrestrial organisms that could compromise future investigations regarding the origin or presence of Martian life. Over the last decade, the number of national space agencies planning, participating in, and undertaking missions to Mars has increased, and private-sector enterprises are engaged in activities designed to enable commercial missions to Mars. The nature of missions to Mars is also evolving to feature more diversity in purposes and technologies. As missions to Mars increase and diversify, national and international processes for developing planetary protection measures recognize the need to consider the interests of scientific discovery, commercial activity, and human exploration. The implications of these changes for planetary protection should be considered in the context of how much science has learned about Mars, and about terrestrial life, in recent years. At the request of NASA, this report identifies criteria for determining locations on Mars potentially suitable for landed robotic missions that satisfy less stringent bioburden requirements, which are intended to manage the risk of forward contamination. %0 Book %A National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine %T Planetary Protection Considerations for Missions to Solar System Small Bodies: Report Series—Committee on Planetary Protection %@ 978-0-309-69372-1 %D 2023 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/26714/planetary-protection-considerations-for-missions-to-solar-system-small-bodies %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/26714/planetary-protection-considerations-for-missions-to-solar-system-small-bodies %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Space and Aeronautics %P 64 %X The ultimate goal of planetary protection for outbound missions is to prevent harmful contamination that would inhibit future measurements designed to search for evidence of the existence or evolution of extraterrestrial life. Preventing harmful contamination is achieved by following specific guidelines based on existing scientific knowledge about the destination and the type of mission. This report responds to NASA's request for a study on planetary protection categorization of missions to small bodies, including whether there are particular populations of small bodies for which contamination of one object in the population would not be likely to have a tangible effect on the opportunities for scientific investigation using other objects in the population. In addressing NASA's request, the authoring committee considered surface composition of target bodies and their importance for prebiotic chemistry, along with size of the small-body populations, the current state of knowledge on the types of objects, the likelihood of a future scientific mission returning to any specific object, active object surface processes, and the size.