Evaluating the Biological Potential in Samples Returned from Planetary Satellites and Small Solar System Bodies Framework for Decision Making (1998) / Chapter Skim
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Executive Summary
Executive Summary
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In response to NASA's request, the Space Studies Board established the Task Group on Sample Return from Small Solar System Bodies to address the following specific tasks: · Assess the potential for a living entity to be contained in or on samples returned from planetary satellites or primitive solar system bodies, such as asteroids, comets, and meteoroids; · Identify detectable differences among small solar system bodies that would affect the above assessment; · Identify scientific investigations that need to be conducted to reduce the uncertainty in the above assessment; and · Assess the potential risk posed by samples returned directly to Earth from spaceflight missions, as compared to the natural influx of material that enters Earth's atmosphere as interplanetary dust particles, meteorites, and other small impactors. Concerns about potential risks from returned extraterrestrial materials are not new, having been raised initially more than three decades ago with the return of lunar samples during the Apollo program.
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Based on this analysis, the task group identified six parameters (liquid water, energy sources, organic compounds, temperature, radiation intensity, and natural influx to Earth) as relevant to its assessment and formulated the following six questions to help determine how returned samples should be handled.
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Cosmic Dust Because interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) are derived from a variety of sources, including interstellar grains and debris from comets, asteroids, and possibly planetary satellites, IDPs cannot be viewed as a distinct target body.
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, and interplanetary dust particles (sampled from the interplanetary medium, sampled near the Moon or Io, TABLE ES.1 Summary of Currently Recommended Approach to Handling Samples Returned from Planetary Satellites and Small Solar System Bodies Assessed by the Task Group on Sample Return from Small Solar System Bodies No Special Containment and Handling Warranted Beyond What Is Needed for Scientific Purposes Ia High Degree of Confidence Ib Lesser Degree of Confidencea II Strict Containment and Handling Warranted The Moon Io Dynamically new cometsb Interplanetary dust particlesC Phobos Deimos Callisto C-type asteroids Undifferentiated metamorphosed asteroids Differentiated asteroids All other comets Interplanetary dust particlese Europa Ganymede P-type asteroids D-type asteroids Interplanetary dust particles 7 aSubcolumn Ib lists those bodies for which confidence in the recommended approach is still high but for which there is insufficient information at present to express it absolutely. This lesser degree of confidence does not mean that containment is warranted for those bodies; rather, it means that continued scrutiny of the issue is warranted for the listed bodies as new data become available.
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Recommendation: For samples returned from Phobos and Deimos, Callisto, C-type asteroids, undifferentiated metamorphosed asteroids, differentiated asteroids, comets other than dynamically new ones, and interplanetary dust particles sampled near these bodies, a conservative, case-by-case approach should be used to assess the containment and handling requirements. NASA should consult with or establish an advisory committee with expertise in the planetary and biological sciences relevant to such an assessment.
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Recommendation: NASA should consult with or establish an advisory committee of experts from the scientific community when developing protocols and methods to examine returned samples for indicators of past or present extraterrestrial life forms. Recommendation: The planetary protection measures adopted for the first sample return mission to a small body whose samples warrant special handling and containment should not be relaxed for subsequent missions without a thorough scientific review and concurrence by an appropriate independent body.
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Washington D.C.: National Academy Press. National Research Council (NRC)
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