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1 Introduction
Pages 4-7

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From page 4... ... PLANETARY PROTECTION POLICY FOR SMALL SOLAR SYSTEM BODIES Both NASA and COSPAR policies provide for assigning each solar system exploration mission to a specific planetary protection category. For missions that are not intended to return samples to Earth, these 1 In planetary protection policy, the goal of preventing forward contamination focuses exclusively on avoiding interference with searches for evidence of life or the origin of life, and it does not encompass other esthetic, environmental, or ethical issues relating to contamination of solar system bodies. Read the entire page →
From page 5... ... RELEVANT PRIOR REPORTS There are several past advisory reports that are relevant to the committee's assessment of planetary protection policy for missions to small bodies, and they are summarized below. The 1998 SSB report Evaluating the Biological Potential in Samples Returned from Planetary Satellites and Small Solar System Bodies: Framework for Decision Making 9 focused on recommendations for planetary protection provisions to prevent back contamination from sample-return missions and did not address forward contamination. Read the entire page →
From page 6... ... All three mission concepts would emphasize studies to understand small bodies as reservoirs of prebiotic material and potential environments that may have played a role in the origin of life in the solar system. CHARGE TO THE COMMITTEE AND STRUCTURE OF THIS REPORT As a standing discipline committee of the SSB to advise NASA on important matters relating to planetary protection, the committee's charge includes the preparation of short assessment reports detailing progress in areas relating to NASA's planetary protection guidelines or new scientific and technical 10 NASEM, 2019, An Astrobiology Strategy for the Search for Life in the Universe, Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, https://doi.org/10.17226/25252. Read the entire page →
From page 7... ... Planetary protection assessment for missions to Pluto and other Kuiper Belt object dwarf planets will no doubt need to be considered once such a mission is prioritized; the committee anticipates that any such mission will be a scientific mission and thus scientific requirements will likely outweigh planetary protection cleanliness requirements. Finally, the committee did not consider either missions to planetary satellites or planetary defense missions designed to deflect or destroy an asteroid that might become a hazard to Earth. Read the entire page →

From page 4...

... PLANETARY PROTECTION POLICY FOR SMALL SOLAR SYSTEM BODIES Both NASA and COSPAR policies provide for assigning each solar system exploration mission to a specific planetary protection category. For missions that are not intended to return samples to Earth, these 1 In planetary protection policy, the goal of preventing forward contamination focuses exclusively on avoiding interference with searches for evidence of life or the origin of life, and it does not encompass other esthetic, environmental, or ethical issues relating to contamination of solar system bodies.

Read the entire page →

From page 5...

... RELEVANT PRIOR REPORTS There are several past advisory reports that are relevant to the committee's assessment of planetary protection policy for missions to small bodies, and they are summarized below. The 1998 SSB report Evaluating the Biological Potential in Samples Returned from Planetary Satellites and Small Solar System Bodies: Framework for Decision Making 9 focused on recommendations for planetary protection provisions to prevent back contamination from sample-return missions and did not address forward contamination.

Read the entire page →

From page 6...

... All three mission concepts would emphasize studies to understand small bodies as reservoirs of prebiotic material and potential environments that may have played a role in the origin of life in the solar system. CHARGE TO THE COMMITTEE AND STRUCTURE OF THIS REPORT As a standing discipline committee of the SSB to advise NASA on important matters relating to planetary protection, the committee's charge includes the preparation of short assessment reports detailing progress in areas relating to NASA's planetary protection guidelines or new scientific and technical 10 NASEM, 2019, An Astrobiology Strategy for the Search for Life in the Universe, Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, https://doi.org/10.17226/25252.

Read the entire page →

From page 7...

... Planetary protection assessment for missions to Pluto and other Kuiper Belt object dwarf planets will no doubt need to be considered once such a mission is prioritized; the committee anticipates that any such mission will be a scientific mission and thus scientific requirements will likely outweigh planetary protection cleanliness requirements. Finally, the committee did not consider either missions to planetary satellites or planetary defense missions designed to deflect or destroy an asteroid that might become a hazard to Earth.

Read the entire page →

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1 Introduction Pages 4-7

1 Introduction
Pages 4-7