Assessment of Planetary Protection Requirements for Mars Sample Return Missions (2009) / Chapter Skim
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1 Introduction
1 Introduction
Pages 9-21
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From page 9... ...
This iterative strategy has allowed Mars exploration activities to become progressively more focused on a smaller number of high-priority sites for addressing fundamental questions about Mars, including the following: • Past and present habitability,2 • The potential for life, • Strategies for Mars sample return, • Approaches to the containment and biohazard testing of martian samples, and • The availability of resources and potential hazards for planning human missions. IMPORTANCE OF MARS SAMPLE RETURN A Mars sample return mission is acknowledged to be a major next step in the exploration of Mars.
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From page 10... ...
NASA Thermal-emission imaging system, gamma ray spectrometer, neutron spectrometer, high-energy neutron detector, environmental radiation experiment 2003-Current Mars Express (Orbiter) European High-resolution stereo imager, subsurface and ionosphere sounding Space radar, infrared mineralogical mapping spectrometer, atmospheric Agency Fourier spectrometer, ultraviolet/infrared atmospheric spectrometer, plasma and energetic atom analyser, radio science experiment 2003-Current Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit NASA Panoramic stereo imager, thermal-emission imaging system, alpha and Opportunity particle x-ray spectrometer, Mössbauer spectrometer, microscopic imager, rock abrasion tool, magnetic properties of dust experiment 2005-Current Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter NASA Visible/near-infrared imaging spectrometer, high-resolution imager, medium-resolution imager, low-resolution imager, infrared radiometer, shallow subsurface sounding radar 2008 Phoenix (Lander)
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European On rover: Panoramic color camera, infrared mapper, ground2016 Space penetrating radar, close-up imager, Mössbauer spectrometer, Agency laser Raman spectrometer, subsurface coring drill, multispectral microscopic imager for subsurface borehole studies, infrared microscope for characterization of drill cores and cuttings, x-ray diffractometer, gas chromatograph mass spectrometer and mass spectrometer for organic analysis, amino acid and chirality analyser On lander: Atmospheric radiation and electricity sensor, meteorological/environmental monitoring package, bistatic ground penetrating radar, heat-flow sensor, radio science experiment, dust analyser, humidity sensor, magnetometer, seismometer, ultraviolet/ visible spectrometer for atmospheric studies aNational Research Council, Mars Sample Return: Issues and Recommendations, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 1997. • The search for life.
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The purpose of this report is to provide an interim view of ongoing efforts to develop and implement plans for planetary protection for Mars sample return. In other words, it is the understanding of the Committee on the Review of Planetary Protection Requirements for Mars Sample Return Missions that its findings and recommendations will be applied at the tactical level by subsequent groups specifically charged with the development of implementable protocols for the collection, handling, transfer, quarantine, and release of Mars samples.
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From page 13... ...
Renewed interest in Mars sample return by both NASA and the international space exploration community has urged a systematic review of the findings of the NRC's 1997 Mars report to update its recommendations based on current understanding of the biological potential of Mars, and in light of ongoing improvements in biological, chemical, and physical sample analysis capabilities and technologies. Although a detailed study is beyond the scope of the present activity, it is intended that the findings and recommendations that follow will provide useful interim advice for future NASA and international planning groups that will define a final protocol for handling and testing martian materials.
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From page 14... ...
• A panel of experts, including representatives of relevant governmental and scientific bodies, should be established as soon as possible once serious planning for a Mars sample return mission has begun, to coordinate regulatory responsibilities and to advise NASA on the implementation of planetary protection measures for sample-return missions. The panel should be in place at least 1 year prior to the establish ment of the sample-receiving facility ([i.e.,]
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38 The combined efforts of Odyssey, MRO, and the European Space Agency's Mars Express missions are likewise providing new high-resolution data for selecting the best landing sites for the Mars Science Laboratory rover, currently scheduled for launch in 2011. Given the past successes of the phased strategy for exploration outlined above, it seems clear that data from current orbital and landed missions will continue to play crucial roles in the targeting of a site or sites for future Mars sample return(s)
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This focusing of the search strategy is evident in the enhanced payload capabilities of the Phoenix lander, which analyzed the chemistry of frozen regolith, and the Mars Science Laboratory and ExoMars missions, which are scheduled to deliver sophisticated biogeochemistry and organic chemistry experiments, respectively, to sites where orbital data provide strong evidence for past water. These efforts represent a renewal of Viking's initial search in 1976 for organic matter preserved in rocks and ices on Mars, and they provide logical next steps toward in situ life detection experiments that should precede Mars sample return.
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and the upper reaches of the Athabasca Valles channel system believed to have been formed by repeated outbursts of subsurface water, perhaps within the past 2 million years. Note the streamlining of deposits around impact craters located at the heads of some streamlined islands.
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18 ASSESSMENT OF PLANETARY PROTECTION REQUIREMENTS FOR MARS SAMPLE RETURN MISSIONS FIGURE 1.2 Mars Orbiter Camera image (E11-04033) showing the north wall of a small (7-km-diameter)
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From page 19... ...
An international Mars sample return mission might suffer if differences in national policies and legal frameworks significantly complicate issues relating to sample quarantine policies and biohazard certification. • The drafting and publication by NASA, with the assistance of international partners, of initial Mars samplehandling and biohazard-testing protocols based on the recommendations in the NRC's 1997 Mars Sample Return report.
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5 National Research Council, International Cooperation for Mars Exploration and Sample Return, National Academy . Press, Washington, D.C., 1990, pp.
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From page 21... ...
Tamppari, "Mars Exploration Program 2007 Phoenix Landing Site Selection and Characteristics," Journal of Geophysical Research 113:E00A03, doi:10.1029/2007JE003021, 2008.
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