Assessment of Planetary Protection Requirements for Spacecraft Missions to Icy Solar System Bodies (2012) / Chapter Skim
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1 Current Status of Planetary Protection Policies for Icy Bodies
1 Current Status of Planetary Protection Policies for Icy Bodies
Pages 5-12
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From page 5... ...
Since the United states is a signatory to the United Nations Outer Space Treaty, NASA has developed and implemented policies consistent with the treaty's requirement that "parties to the Treaty shall pursue studies of outer space including the Moon and other celestial bodies, and conduct exploration of them so as to avoid their harmful contamination and also adverse changes in the environment of Earth resulting from the introduction of extraterrestrial matter and, where necessary, shall adopt appropriate measures for this purpose." 2 The Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) of the International Council for Science maintains a planetary protection policy representing the international consensus standard for the "appropriate measures" referred to in the treaty's language.
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From page 6... ...
Second, the committee's charge specifically focuses on the approach taken by the NRC's 2000 Europa report committee and subsequent COSPAR actions related to planetary protection measures for the outer solar system. The introduction of a new contamina tion standard into the deliberations will, in the committee's considered opinion, complicate the resolution of more serious issues arising from the methodology contained in the 2000 Europa report.
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From page 7... ...
return Target bodyb Not of direct Of significant interest Of interest relative to Of interest relative to chemical interest for relative to chemical chemical evolution evolution and the origin of life, but where there is a significantd understanding evolution and the origin and the origin of life, of chemical of life, but where there is but where there is a chance of contamination; only a remotec chance of significantd chance of evolution or the Group 4 origin of life; contamination; contamination; Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Degree of None Record of planned Limit on impact Limit on non-nominal impact concern impact probability and probability; passive probability; active bioburden contamination control bioburden control control measures Planetary None Documentation: Documentation: Documentation: protection policy planetary protection Category II plus: Category III plus: requirements plan, pre-launch report, contamination probability of contamination post-launch report, post- control, organics analysis plan, microbial reduction encounter report, end-of- inventory (as necessary) plan, microbial assay plan, mission report organics inventory Implementing Implementing procedures such as: procedures such as: partial sterilization of contacting trajectory biasing, hardware (as necessary)
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to revisit the conclusions contained in the 2000 Europa report and to review, update, and extend its recommendations to cover the entire range of icy bodies -- i.e., asteroids, satellites, Kuiper belt objects, and comets. IMPLEMENTING PLANETARY PROTECTION POLICIES At one time, COSPAR defined the time period for planetary protection to coincide with the so-called period of biological exploration or, simply, the period of exploration.15,16 This period refers to the time necessary for robotic missions to determine whether biological systems occur on a potentially habitable planetary body.
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From page 9... ...
Surveys of conserved genes from environmental DNA preparations reveal that the sum of all cultivated microorganisms represents <1 percent of naturally occurring microbial diversity. 25 Extrapolation from the observation that 99 percent of all microorganisms in nature do not readily grow under laboratory conditions suggests that the standard NASA spore assay detects only a small fraction of the different kinds of heat-resistant organisms on a spacecraft (see Chapter 2)
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From page 10... ...
The NRC released its first planetary science decadal survey 2 years after the completion of the 2000 Europa report.26 The survey's highest-priority non-Mars mission described the Europa Geophysical Explorer, a flagship-class mission that would orbit Europa and determine whether an internal ocean exists. A Europa orbiter retained its position as the highest-priority non-Mars mission in the most recent planetary decadal survey.
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From page 11... ...
9 . National Research Council, New Frontiers in the Solar System: An Integrated Exploration Strategy, The National Academies Press, Washington, D.C., 2003, pp.
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From page 12... ...
16 . For a recent discussion of the concept of the period of biological exploration see, for example, National Research Council, Preventing the Forward Contamination of Mars, The National Academies Press, Washington, D.C., 2006, pp.
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