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SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Pages 1-12

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From page 1...
... of the International Council of Scientific Unions. The policy lays out a framework of specific planetary protection guidelines for implementing procedures for future missions.
From page 2...
... in response to NASA requests.4-12 Most recently, NASA's planetary protection officer requested that, prior to the 1992 COSPAR meeting, the board make recommendations regarding planetary protection policy for upcoming Mars missions (Appendix A)
From page 3...
... With respect to forward contamination, NASA's historic concern has been to preserve pristine conditions on the planets for future experiments with biological and organic constituents that might lead to insights concerning the origin and evolution of life in the cosmos. Knowledge has increased substantially since the Viking mission.
From page 4...
... Chapter 3 of this report reviews the state of knowledge regarding the martian surface, including its chemistry, solar radiation flux, temperature, water, volcanism, and past climate conditions. LIMITS OF LIFE ON EARTH: EXPANSION OF THE MICROBIAL WORLD AND DETECTION OF LIFE Life in Extreme Environments The Task Group on Planetary Protection assessed past reports and current views on the range of environmental conditions believed to exist on Mars and unanimously agreed that it is extremely unlikely that a terrestrial organism could grow on the surface of Mars.
From page 5...
... The task group strongly recommends that efforts be made to explore current analytical methods for use in bioburden assessment and inventory procedures before spacecraft assembly and launch. In addition to epifluorescent microscopic techniques for directly counting viable cells, many other new methods have been developed, such as the polymerase chain reaction, allowing greatly increased sensitivity of detection by enzymatically amplifying specific biomarkers of even a single cell to detectable levels.
From page 6...
... issued by the Space Science Board in its 1978 report were recently reassessed in a 1991 NASA report.15 Comments and estimates made by the participants illustrate a consensus that the Pg values for terrestrial organisms on Mars 6
From page 7...
... However, forward contamination more broadly defined to include contamination by terrestrial organic matter associated with intact cells or cell components is a significant threat to interpretation of results of in situ experiments specifically designed to search for evidence of extant or fossil martian microorganisms. Based on the MESUR group's consensus and the task group's agreement with it, the task group makes the following recommendations for control of forward contamination, each tied to specific mission objectives.
From page 8...
... temporal heterogeneity and its possible relationship to our ability to evaluate the biotic and abiotic status of a given site. Collection of appropriate data should allow the scientific community to amend planetary protection policy recommendations for back contamination, perhaps resulting in recommendations similar to the alterations in procedures for assessing forward contamination suggested by this task group.
From page 9...
... The task group recommends that NASA inform the public about current planetary protection plans and provide continuing updates concerning Mars exploration and sample return. Legal Issues There are also legal issues that must be addressed, involving international restrictions as well as federal, state, and local statutes that may come into play.
From page 10...
... 7. NASA should inform the public about current planetary protection plans and provide continuing updates concerning Mars exploration and sample return (Chapter 6)
From page 11...
... 9. Space Science Board, National Research Council, 1978, Recommendations on Quarantine Policy for Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Titan, Committee on Planetary Biology and Chemical Evolution, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C.
From page 12...
... Rummel, chief, Planetary Quarantine Program, Office of Space Science and Applications, NASA, regarding a formal recommendation on planetary protection categorization of the Comet Rendezvous-Asteroid Flyby mission and the Titan-Cassini mission, July 6, 1988 (unpublished)


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