Planetary Protection Requirements Research Articles

COSPAR needs for Planetary Protection recommendations for sample preservation dedicated to exobiology

The present COSPAR Planetary Protection policy has been established in order to conduct scientific investigations of possible extraterrestrial life forms, precursors and remnants avoiding to jeopardize exobiological experimentations. This policy is implemented by the issuance of Planetary Protection recommendations in order to control, limit or avoid the biological contamination of other worlds. Their goal is also to protect the Earth from the potential hazard posed by extraterrestrial matter carried by a spacecraft returning from another planet. Policy and recommendations are built upon scientific opinions and, if available, using scientific results coming from exobiological investigations. If sample preservation is not ensured, inducing contamination or change in sample material properties, some material characteristics can be affected and may induce false results concerning presence of life or biohazard. It concerns in situ investigations as well as analysis of extra terrestrial samples on Earth. False results could lead to propose unappropriate Planetary Protection requirements. This paper will propose recommendations and requirements for sample preservation in order to ensure the validity of exobiological science and directly to consolidate COSPAR policy, giving the best assurance to requirements for forward and back-contamination.

Planetary protection requirements for orbiter and netlander elements of the CNES/NASA Mars sample return mission

In the framework of Mars exploration, particularly for missions dedicated to the search for life or for traces of ancient forms of life, NASA and CNES have decided to join their efforts in order to build a Mars sample return mission. Taking into account article IX of the OUTER SPACE TREATY (Treaty on principles governing the activities of states in the exploration and use of outer space, including the Moon and other celestial, referenced 610 UNTS 205 - resolution 2222(XXI) of December 1966, ratified in London / Washington January 27, 1967) and in order to comply with the COSPAR planetary protection recommendations, a common planetary protection program has to be established. Mars in-situ experimentations are limited by the size and the mass of the instruments necessary to perform exobiology investigations and, consequently, it appears that the best way to conduct such experiments is to bring back Mars samples to Earth. A sample return mission enables the use of a very large number of instruments and analysis protocols, giving exobiologists the best chance to find living entities or organic compounds related to life. Such a mission is complicated from a planetary protection point of view, it combines constraints for the protection of both the Mars environment as well as Earth, including the preservation of samples to ensure the validity of exobiological experiments.

Implementing planetary protection requirements for sample return missions

NASA is committed to exploring space while avoiding the biological contamination of other solar system bodies and protecting the Earth against potential harm from materials returned from space. NASA's planetary protection program evaluates missions (with external advice from the US National Research Council and others) and imposes particular constraints on individual missions to achieve these objectives. In 1997 the National Research Council's Space Studies Board published the report, Mars Sample Return: Issues and Recommendations, which reported advice to NASA on Mars sample return missions, complementing their 1992 report, The Biological Contamination of Mars Issues and Recommendations. Meanwhile, NASA has requested a new Space Studies Board study to address sample returns from bodies other than Mars. This study recognizes the variety of worlds that have been opened up to NASA and its partners by small, relatively inexpensive, missions of the Discovery class, as well as the reshaping of our ideas about life in the solar system that have been occasioned by the Galileo spacecraft's discovery that an ocean under the ice on Jupiter's moon Europa might, indeed, exist. This paper will report on NASA's planned implementation of planetary protection provisions based on these recent National Research Council recommendations, and will suggest measures for incorporation in the planetary protection policy of COSPAR.

Planning Considerations for Mars Sample Return Containment

With a Mars sample return mission planned for launch as early as 2005, serious discussions have begun to identify practical, effective approaches for containing extraterrestrial rocks, soil and atmospheric samples for return to Earth. In addition to satisfying planetary protection and biological safety requirements, containment designs must also meet planetary science and spaceflight engineering needs. To be effective, an integrated containment system must consider both outbound and inbound spaceflights, mobile and stationary containment, and operations on Earth. Important planning considerations include pre-launch preparations, the configuration and sealing of the sample return canister, Earth-return and recovery procedures, contingency planning, laboratory design, biosafety cabinets, sterilization methods, and alternative operational and facilities approaches. Solving the challenges of containment for extraterrestrial samples will be critical to mission success, not only for samples from Mars, but ultim...

Mars sample return and planetary protection in a public context

In order to minimize problems and prepare for possible challenges to Mars sample return missions, it is important to recognize the complexity of planetary protection requirements and integrate them early in the planning process together with economic, technical, scientific and other considerations. Of special concern are two particular non-scientific problem areas: 1) legal ambiguities and requirements, and 2) risk perceptions and attitudes about sample return, both of which have the potential to impact mission success in unpredictable ways. A cursory review of relevant laws and legal issues combined with research findings about risk perceptions, have highlighted these problem areas in the decision making process ahead. It is likely that challenges or opposition will center around pre-launch decision making and subsequent Earth based sample handling rather than space operations per se. Ultimately, overall mission success may depend on understanding how the technical and scientific implications of planetary protection interact with legitimate legal and societal issues related to activities both in space and on Earth.

Refinement of planetary protection policy for Mars missions

Under existing COSPAR policy adopted in 1984, missions to Mars (landers, probes, and some orbiters) are designated as Category IV missions. As such, the procedures for implementing planetary protection requirements could include trajectory biasing, cleanrooms, bioload reduction, sterilization of hardware, and bioshields. In 1992, a U.S. National Research Council study recommended that controls on forward contamination of Mars be tied to specific mission objectives. The report recommended that Mars landers with life detection instruments be subject to at least Viking-level sterilization procedures for bioload reduction, while spacecraft (including orbiters) without life detection instruments be subject to at least Viking-level pre-sterilization procedures for bioload reduction but need not be sterilized. In light of this, it is proposed that the current policy's Category IV and its planetary protection requirements be divided into two sub-categories as follows: Category IVa, for missions comprising landers and probes without life detection experiments, which will meet a specified bioburden limit for exposed surfaces, and Category IVb, for landers and probes with life detection experiments, which will require sterilization of landed systems. In addition, Category III orbiter mission specifications are expanded to be consistent with these recommendations.

A consensus approach to planetary protection requirements: Recommendations for Mars lander missions

Over the last several years, the nature of the surface conditions on the planet Mars, our knowledge of the growth capabilities of Earth organisms under extreme conditions, and future opportunities for Mars exploration have been under extensive review in the United States and elsewhere. As part of these examinations, in 1992 the US Space Studies Board made a series of recommendations to NASA on the requirements that should be implemented on future missions that will explore Mars. In particular, significant changes were recommended in the requirements for Mars landers, changes that significantly alleviated the burden of planetary protection implementation for these missions. In this paper we propose a resolution implementing this new set of recommendations, for adoption by COSPAR at its 30th meeting in Hamburg. We also discuss future directions and study areas for planetary protection, in light of changing plans for Mars exploration.

Planetary protection program for Mars 94/96 mission

Mars surface in-situ exploration started in 1975 with the American VIKING mission. Two probes landed on the northern hemisphere and provided, for the first time, detailed information on the martian terrain, atmosphere and meteorology. The current goal is to undertake larger surface investigations and many projects are being planned by the major Space Agencies with this objective. Among these projects, the Mars 94/96 mission will make a major contributor toward generating significant information about the martian surface on a large scale. Since the beginning of the Solar System exploration, planets where life could exist have been subject to planetary protection requirements. Those requirements accord with the COSPAR Policy and have two main goals: • - the protection of the planetary environment from influence or contamination by terrestrial microorganisms • - the protection of life science, and particularly of life detection experiments searching extra-terrestrial life, and not life carried by probes and spacecrafts As the conditions for life and survival for terrestrial microorganisms in the Mars environment became known, COSPAR recommendations were updated /1/. This paper will describe the decontamination requirements which will be applied for the MARS 94/96 mission, the techniques and the procedures which are and will be used to realize and control the decontamination of probes and spacecrafts.

Planetary protection, legal ambiguity and the decision making process for Mars sample return

As scientists and mission planners develop planetary protection requirements for future Mars sample return missions, they must recognize the socio-political context in which decisions about the mission will be made and pay careful attention to public concerns about potential back contamination of Earth. To the extent that planetary protection questions are unresolved or unaddressed at the time of an actual mission, they offer convenient footholds for public challenges in both legal and decision making realms, over which NASA will have little direct control. In this paper, two particular non-scientific areas of special concern are discussed in detail: 1) legal issues and 2) the decision making process. Understanding these areas is critical for addressing legitimate public concerns as well as for fulfilling procedural requirements regardless whether sample return evokes public controversy. Legal issues with the potential to complicate future missions include: procedural review under NEPA; uncertainty about institutional control and authority; conflicting regulations and overlapping jurisdictions; questions about international treaty obligations and large scale impacts; uncertainties about the nature of the organism; and constitutional and regulatory concerns about quarantine, public health and safety. In light of these important legal issues, it is critical that NASA consider the role and timing of public involvement in the decision making process as a way of anticipating problem areas and preparing for legitimate public questions and challenges to sample return missions.

Planetary protection considerations for MarsNet and Mars sample return missions

The ESA MarsNet mission proposal consists most probably of a trio of Mars landers. These landers each contain a variety of scientific equipment. The network of stations demands for a definition of its planetary protection requirements. With respect to the MarsNet mission only forward contamination problems will be considered. Future involvement of European efforts in planetary exploration including sample returns will also raise the problem of back contamination. A tradeoff study for the overall scientific benefit with respect to the approximative cost is necessary. Planetary protection guide-lines will be proposed by an interdisciplinary and international board of experts working in the fields of both biology and planetary science. These guide-lines will have to be flexible in order to be modified with respect to new research results, e. g. on adaptation of microorganisms to extreme (space) conditions. Experiments on the survival of microorganisms at conditions of simulated Mars surface and subsurface will have to be conducted in order to obtain a baseline data collection as a reference standard for future guide-lines.

Planetary environment protection ID no: F3.3 - M.1.05 implications for the development of a network of surface stations on Mars

The European Space Agency's studies of a Comet Nucleus Sample Return mission (ROSETTA) as its Planetary Cornerstone in its long-term programme ‘Horizon 2000’ and the Marsnet mission, a potential contribution of the Agency to an international network of surface stations on Mars, has revived the interest in the present state of Planetary Protection requirements. MARSNET was one of the four candidate missions selected in April 1991 for further Design Feasibility (Phase A) Studies. Furthermore, of all space agencies participating in planetary exploration activities only the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration had a well established Planetary Protection Policy on Viking and other relevant planetary missions, whereas ESA is considering the feasibility and potential impact of a planetary protection policy on its Marsnet mission, within the framework of a tight budgetary envelope applicable to ESA's Medium (M) class missions. This paper will discuss in general terms the impact of Planetary Protection measures, its implications for Marsnet and the issues arising from this for the implementation of the mission in ESA's scientific programme.