%0 Book %A National Research Council %T Assessment of Planetary Protection Requirements for Mars Sample Return Missions %@ 978-0-309-13073-8 %D 2009 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12576/assessment-of-planetary-protection-requirements-for-mars-sample-return-missions %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12576/assessment-of-planetary-protection-requirements-for-mars-sample-return-missions %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Space and Aeronautics %P 90 %X NASA maintains a planetary protection policy to avoid the forward biological contamination of other worlds by terrestrial organisms, and back biological contamination of Earth from the return of extraterrestrial materials by spaceflight missions. Forward-contamination issues related to Mars missions were addressed in a 2006 National Research Council (NRC) book, Preventing the Forward Contamination of Mars. However, it has been more than 10 years since back-contamination issues were last examined. Driven by a renewed interest in Mars sample return missions, this book reviews, updates, and replaces the planetary protection conclusions and recommendations contained in the NRC's 1997 report Mars Sample Return: Issues and Recommendations. The specific issues addressed in this book include the following: The potential for living entities to be included in samples returned from Mars; Scientific investigations that should be conducted to reduce uncertainty in the above assessment; The potential for large-scale effects on Earth's environment by any returned entity released to the environment; Criteria for intentional sample release, taking note of current and anticipated regulatory frameworks; and The status of technological measures that could be taken on a mission to prevent the inadvertent release of a returned sample into Earth's biosphere. %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 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 Review of the MEPAG Report on Mars Special Regions %@ 978-0-309-37904-5 %D 2015 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/21816/review-of-the-mepag-report-on-mars-special-regions %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/21816/review-of-the-mepag-report-on-mars-special-regions %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Space and Aeronautics %P 80 %X Planetary protection is a guiding principle in the design of an interplanetary mission, aiming to prevent biological contamination of both the target celestial body and the Earth. The protection of high-priority science goals, the search for life and the understanding of the Martian organic environment may be compromised if Earth microbes carried by spacecraft are grown and spread on Mars. This has led to the definition of Special Regions on Mars where strict planetary protection measures have to be applied before a spacecraft can enter these areas. At NASA's request, the community-based Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG) established the Special Regions Science Analysis Group (SR-SAG2) in October 2013 to examine the quantitative definition of a Special Region and proposed modifications to it, as necessary, based upon the latest scientific results. Review of the MEPAG Report on Mars Special Regions reviews the conclusions and recommendations contained in MEPAG's SR-SAG2 report and assesses their consistency with current understanding of both the Martian environment and the physical and chemical limits for the survival and propagation of microbial and other life on Earth. This report provides recommendations for an update of the planetary protection requirements for Mars Special Regions. %0 Book %A National Research Council %T Preventing the Forward Contamination of Mars %@ 978-0-309-09724-6 %D 2006 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/11381/preventing-the-forward-contamination-of-mars %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/11381/preventing-the-forward-contamination-of-mars %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Space and Aeronautics %P 166 %X Recent spacecraft and robotic probes to Mars have yielded data that are changing our understanding significantly about the possibility of existing or past life on that planet. Coupled with advances in biology and life-detection techniques, these developments place increasing importance on the need to protect Mars from contamination by Earth-borne organisms. To help with this effort, NASA requested that the NRC examine existing planetary protection measures for Mars and recommend changes and further research to improve such measures. This report discusses policies, requirements, and techniques to protect Mars from organisms originating on Earth that could interfere with scientific investigations. It provides recommendations on cleanliness and biological burden levels of Mars-bound spacecraft, methods to reach those levels, and research to reduce uncertainties in preventing forward contamination of Mars. %0 Book %A National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine %T Review and Assessment of Planetary Protection Policy Development Processes %@ 978-0-309-47865-6 %D 2018 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25172/review-and-assessment-of-planetary-protection-policy-development-processes %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25172/review-and-assessment-of-planetary-protection-policy-development-processes %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Space and Aeronautics %P 138 %X Protecting Earth's environment and other solar system bodies from harmful contamination has been an important principle throughout the history of space exploration. For decades, the scientific, political, and economic conditions of space exploration converged in ways that contributed to effective development and implementation of planetary protection policies at national and international levels. However, the future of space exploration faces serious challenges to the development and implementation of planetary protection policy. The most disruptive changes are associated with (1) sample return from, and human missions to, Mars; and (2) missions to those bodies in the outer solar system possessing water oceans beneath their icy surfaces. Review and Assessment of Planetary Protection Policy Development Processes addresses the implications of changes in the complexion of solar system exploration as they apply to the process of developing planetary protection policy. Specifically, this report examines the history of planetary protection policy, assesses the current policy development process, and recommends actions to improve the policy development process in the future. %0 Book %A National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine %T Planetary Protection Classification of Sample Return Missions from the Martian Moons %@ 978-0-309-48859-4 %D 2019 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25357/planetary-protection-classification-of-sample-return-missions-from-the-martian-moons %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25357/planetary-protection-classification-of-sample-return-missions-from-the-martian-moons %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Space and Aeronautics %P 74 %X An international consensus policy to prevent the biological cross-contamination of planetary bodies exists and is maintained by the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) of the International Council for Science, which is consultative to the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. Currently, COSPAR's planetary protection policy does not specify the status of sample-return missions from Phobos or Deimos, the moons of Mars. Although the moons themselves are not considered potential habitats for life or of intrinsic relevance to prebiotic chemical evolution, recent studies indicate that a significant amount of material recently ejected from Mars could be present on the surface of Phobos and, to a lesser extent, Deimos. This report reviews recent theoretical, experimental, and modeling research on the environments and physical conditions encountered by Mars ejecta during certain processes. It recommends whether missions returning samples from Phobos and/or Deimos should be classified as "restricted" or "unrestricted" Earth return in the framework of the planetary protection policy maintained by COSPAR. This report also considers the specific ways the classification of sample return from Deimos is a different case than sample return from Phobos.