Skip to main content

Report Series: Committee on Planetary Protection Evaluation of Bioburden Requirements for Mars Missions (2021) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:

Appendix A: Statement of Task
Pages 61-62

The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.


From page 61...
... To monitor progress in implementing the planetary protection guidelines associated with priority missions and programs identified in the planetary science decadal survey -- Vision and Voyages for Planetary Science in the Decade 2013-2022 -- and in successor planetary science decadal surveys, and other relevant reports issued by the National Academies; and 2. To serve as a source of information and advice on those measures undertaken by robotic spacecraft and human exploration missions to protect the biological and environmental integrity of extraterrestrial bodies for future scientific studies and the means to preserve the integrity of Earth's biosphere when spacecraft return potentially hazardous extraterrestrial materials to Earth.
Read the entire page →
From page 62...
... ,  Mission activities will go no deeper than a certain distance below the surface,  Landed spacecraft are not capable of melting the regolith, and  Proposed landing and/or mission activity sites do not contain geomorphological characteristics of flowing water, such as recurring slope lineae, etc. Methods to show that the above criteria are met might include:  Observational data from orbiters, landers, rovers, and Earth-based observation;  Modeling based on the most up-to-date knowledge of the Martian environment and its processes.
Read the entire page →

Key Terms

  • mission activities
  • planetary science
  • protection guidelines
  • human exploration
  • science decadal

  • hoc committee
  • priority missions
  • martian surface
  • hazardous extraterrestrial
  • guidelines designed

  • operation margins
  • spacecraft missions
  • briefly comment
  • disciplinary scope
  • including emerging

  • preparing short
  • short assessment
  • exploration missions
  • aerospace industry
  • virtual meetings

  • robotic spacecraft
  • technical developments
  • assessment reports
  • activity sites
  • eventual human

  • commercial entities
  • return potentially
  • astrobiological scientists
  • occur beneath
  • include findings


    • This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
    More information on Chapter Skim is available.