Preventing the Forward Contamination of Mars (2006) / Chapter Skim
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Executive Summary
Executive Summary
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2NASA's current suite includes the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, and the orbiters Mars Odyssey and Mars Global Surveyor; the European Space Agency's Mars Express is also in orbit. 3Letter from Joshua Lederberg, University of Wisconsin, to Detlev Bronk, President, National Academy of Sciences, December 24, 1957, with enclosed memorandum entitled "Lunar Biology?
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In addition, the committee found that scientific data from ongoing Mars missions may point toward the possibility that Mars could have locales that would permit the growth of microbes brought from Earth, or that could even harbor extant life (although this remains unknown) ,5 and that these intriguing scientific results raise potentially important questions about protecting the planet Mars itself, in addition to protecting the scientific investigations that might be performed there.
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A more tailored approach to bioburden reduction could also reduce the costs of implementing planetary protection as compared with the costs of existing approaches such as heat sterilization, which subjects a spacecraft, or specific parts of a spacecraft, to high temperatures over several hours in order to reduce the bioburden to the levels required by NASA for life-detection missions. Furthermore, heat sterilization, which was researched for and applied on the Viking mission in 1976, has not been tested for its effectiveness in eliminating extremophiles or other organisms now known to tolerate high heat.
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There is too much new information about the planet and new science about microorganisms not to update the existing framework of planetary protection requirements while research efforts are being conducted. The most critical issue regarding Mars science and the potential forward contamination of Mars concerns socalled special regions.
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. · NASA should ensure that all category IVs missions to Mars satisfy at least level 2 bioburden reduction requirements.10 For each Category IVs mission, NASA's planetary protection officer should appoint an independent, external committee with appropriate engineering, martian geological, and biological expertise to recommend to NASA's planetary protection officer whether a higher level of bioburden reduction is required.
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, and the attention to identifying potential habitats for life on Mars is reflected in the ambitious series of missions comprised by the Mars Exploration Program. Additional resources for updating planetary protection practices are critical for ensuring the integrity of these important scientific investigations.
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Hence, there will be an opportunity during Fiscal Year 2008, when development of both the 2011 and the 2013 Mars missions is expected to start, to begin to test and demonstrate the effectiveness of new bioburden reduction requirements and procedures. Implementation of a new, completely validated planetary protection protocol that employs advanced bioassay and bioburden reduction methods would more realistically be accomplished on a mission developed for launch early in 2016.
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Alternative bioburden reduction techniques could offer more effective and/or less stressful means of reducing or eliminating species-specific bioburdens. Knowing where and what bioburden must be reduced is necessary to determining when and how bioburden reduction can be accomplished and maintained throughout the mission development process.
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A complete transition to applying modern methods (without concurrent application of existing bioassay and bioburden reduction techniques) would most realistically be accomplished on a mission developed for launch early in 2016.
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ESA WPP-243, ISSN 1022-6656, June. MEPAG (Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group)
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