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Assessment of Planetary Protection Requirements for Spacecraft Missions to Icy Solar System Bodies (2012) / Chapter Skim
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6 Necessary Research
Pages 55-58

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From page 55...
... Recommendation: The D-value times for heat inactivation of spores from psychrophilic and psychrotolerant spore-forming bacteria should be determined at different temperatures, spe cifically between 40°C and 80°C. These analyses should include psychrophilic and facultative psychrotolerant bacteria isolated from high-latitude soil, water, and cryopeg samples, as well as psychrotolerant microorganisms isolated from temperate soils, spacecraft assembly sites, and the spacecraft itself.
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From page 56...
... Recommendation: Research should be undertaken to determine the extent to which biofilms might increase microbial resistance to heat treatment and other environmental extremes encountered on journeys to icy bodies. IMAGING METHODOLOGY TO DETERMINE BIOLOAD The long-standing NASA standard protocol used to assess microbial contamination on spacecraft during assembly, test, and launch operations uses a Petri-plate-based culturable assay method to determine the number of cultivable aerobic bacterial endospores present on surfaces of interest.
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From page 57...
... Recommendation: Research should be undertaken to determine the concentrations of key elements or compounds containing biologically important elements on icy bodies in the outer solar system through observational technologies and constraints placed on the range of trace elements available through theoretical modeling and laboratory analog studies. GLOBAL MATERIAL TRANSPORT Understanding global chemical cycles and global material transport on icy bodies is important for several planetary protection decision points, notably the availability of elements, the availability of chemical energy
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From page 58...
... Further spacecraft exploration and reconnaissance of icy body geology and surface characteristics will continue to improve understanding of the global material transport cycles of icy bodies. Recommendation: Research should be undertaken to understand global chemical cycles within icy bodies and the geologic processes occurring on these bodies that promote or inhibit surface subsurface exchange of material.
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Key Terms

  • planetary protection
  • environmental extremes
  • material transport
  • global material
  • bacterial spores

  • biofilm growth
  • heat treatment
  • compounds containing
  • chemical cycles
  • fluorescence imaging

  • laboratory analog
  • global chemical
  • decision hierarchy
  • theoretical modeling
  • vegetative cells

  • geologic processes
  • extremes encountered
  • amino acids
  • analog studies
  • heat inactivation

  • understanding global
  • key uncertainty
  • chemical energy
  • imagesplanetary protection
  • protection decision

  • microbial burden
  • environmental pollution
  • spacecraft assembly
  • liquid environment
  • aerobic bacterial


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