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| Second Astrobiology Science Conference |
7-11 April 2002
NASA Ames Research Center
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| First Astrobiology Science Conference |
3-5 April 2000
NASA Ames Research Center
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The Astrobiology Web: Your Online Guide to the Living Universe TM
Planetary Protection |
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"In another moment I had scrambled up the earthen rampart and stood upon its crest, and the interior of the redoubt was below me. A mighty space it was, with gigantic machines here and there within it, huge mounds of material and strange shelter places. And scattered about it, some in their overturned war-machines, some in the now rigid handling- machines, and a dozen of them stark and silent and laid in a row, were the Martians--DEAD!--slain by the putrefactive and disease bacteria against which their systems were unprepared; slain as the red weed was being slain; slain, after all man's devices had failed, by the humblest things that God, in his wisdom, has put upon this earth. "
H.G. Wells, War of the Worlds
Book 2, Chapter 8 - Dead London
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Bring 'em back alive - or at least carefully: Protection Provisions for Sample Return Missions, by Margaret S. Race and John D. Rummel, Ad Astra magazine, Jan/Feb 1999. This article deals with th eneed to balance forward contamination (Of Mars by Earth) and back contamination (of Earth by Mars) and how NASA and other space agencies are working to ensure public safety and maximize scientific return.
Evaluating the Biological Potential in Samples Returned from Planetary Satellites and Small Solar System BodiesThis 1998 report by the National Research Council Space Studies Board Task Group on Sample Return from Small Solar System Bodies assesses the potential for a living entity to be present in or on samples returned from small solar system bodies such as planetary satellites, asteroids, and comets.
15 July 1998: Evolving Planetary Protection Policy for Extraterrestrial Sample Return , Program of COSPAR session
NASA SP-454: Orbiting Quarantine Facility: The Antaeus Report, NASA 1981. Edited by: Donald L. DeVincenzi, NASA Headquarters and John R. Bagby, Colorado State University. NOTE: Although this document was produced in 1981 (and represents a workshop held in 1978), the information is still very relevant today - even if the concept of a space station for sample analysis is wholly unrealistic - and undesirable.
References: Task Group on Issues in Sample Return Mars Sample Return: Issues and Recommendations, National Academy of Sciences
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Planetary Protection Policy‹NASA and COSPARThis Appendix from the 1998 report "Evaluating the Biological Potential in Samples Returned from Planetary Satellites and Small Solar System Bodies" by the National Research Council Space Studies Board Task Group on Sample Return from Small Solar System Bodies describe the policies established by NASA and COSPAR and the directives in place at NASA to deal with the issue of planetayr protection.
NMI 8020.7E, NASA Management Instruction, "Biological Contamination Control For Outbound and Inbound Planetary Spacecraft", February 19, 1999 establishes the NASA's policy regarding the biological contamination control for outbound and inbound planetary spacecraft. NASA Headquarters.
NHB 8020.12B, NASA Handbook, "Quarantine Provisions for Unmanned Extraterrestrial Missions", This document sets forth requirements applicable to robotic planetary flight programs. These requirements are necessary to enable NASA to fulfill those responsibilities pertaining to planetary protection, as stated in NASA Policy Directive NPD 8020.7E, Biological Contamination Control for Outbound and Inbound Planetary Spacecraft. NASA Headquarters.
International Law & Policy of Extraterrestrial Planetary Protection by Darlene A. Cypser, Jurimetrics - Journal of Law, Science & Technology, vol. 33 No. 2 pp 315-339 Winter 1993. Abstract of a paper that deals with planetary protection in a historical and legal context.
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1 September 1998: Earth microbes on the moon, A news story by NASA that describes how spores of the bacterium Streptococcus mitis managed to survive on the surface of the Moon for 3 years aboard the Surveyor spacecraft until returned aboard Apollo 12. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
25 Years of Curating Moon Rocks This article describes the history of the Lunar Receiving Laboraotry at Johnson Space Center.
Lunar Sample Laboratory Facility This article describes the lunar sample handling facilities at NASA's Johnson Space Center.
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NASA JPL Mars Sample Return Homepage In the fall of 2008, NASA, in cooperation with the French Space Agency, and the Italian Space Agency plan to return a capsule to Earth containing samples of surface material, rocks and atmospheric gases from Mars. This page describes the 2003 and 2005 Mars Sample Return Missions being planned by NASA, CNES, and ASI.
A Passive Earth-Entry Capsule for Mars Sample Return , R. A. Mitcheltree, S. Kellas, J. T. Dorsey, P. N. Desai and C. J. Martin, Jr., 7th AIAA/ASME Joint Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico, AIAA 98-2851, June 15-18, 1998, [Note: 2MB Adobe Acrobat file]
Aerodynamics of Stardust Sample Return Capsule, R. A. Mitcheltree, R. G. Wilmoth, F. M. Cheatwood, G. J. Brauckmann and F. A. Greene,
15th AIAA Applied
Aerodynamics Conference, Atlanta, Georgia, AIAA 97-2304, June 23-25, 1997, [Note: 1MB Adobe Acrobat File].
25 March 1997: Mars Sample Return: Issues and Recommendations, Task Group on Issues in Sample Return, Space Studies Board, Commission on Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and Applications, National Research Council
Mars - A Biological Bugaboo, an article that first appeared in Space News in 1992, by Leonard David, which describes planetary protection concerns and precautions. NASA Ames Research Center
Scientific Assessment of NASA's Mars Sample-Return Mission Options, A summary of a 1996 meeting of the Space Studies Board's Committee on Planetary and Lunar Exploration regarding an assessment of NASA's Mars Surveyor program plans to meet the long-standing scientific goal of returning martian samples to Earth for study in terrestrial laboratories. Committee on Planetary and Lunar Exploration, National Research Council.
25-27 March 1996: Mars 2005 Sample Return Workshop, (.pdf), LPI Technical Report Number 97-01
July 1994: Swapping Rocks: Exchange of Surface Material Among the Planets, an article Jay Melosh which originally appeared in The Planetary Report in 1994 that describes mechanisms whereby rocks (possibly containing intact life forms) could be transfered from the surface of Mars to Earth.
Planetary Protection and Exobiology, JPL RMET: 98 Mars Exploration Technology, includes: Technical Objectives and Rationale, Technical Approach, Cleaning and Sterilization Techniques, Sample Containment and Verification, and Deployable Biobarriers
Mars Pathfinder: Planetary Protection Requirements, a description by NASA of how this mission adhered to the sterilization requirements placed upon spacecraft landing on Mars.
Planetary Protection for Mars Missions, a description of the requirement to avoid forward and back contamination of planetary bodies during exploration.
NASA Ames Research Center
Planetary Protection, a description of the debate over planetary protection and the eventual procedures used to sterilize the two Viking Landers in "On Mars: Exploration of the Red Planet. 1958-1978, NASA SP-4212, Chapter 3 "The Rise of Exobiology as a Discipline". NASA Headquarters.
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Biological Contamination of Mars: Issues and Recommendations (report of the Task Group on Planetary Protection, 1992) , Committee on Planetary and Lunar Exploration (COMPLEX), National Research Council. COMPLEX advises the Space Studies Board on the entire range of planetary system studies that
can be conducted from space as well as on ground-based activities in support of space-based efforts. The disciplinary scope of its task includes geoscience, atmospheres, exobiology, particlesand fields, and planetary astronomy. The committee assists the Board in carrying out studies, monitoring the implementation of strategies, and providing evaluations of programs and strategic priorities for NASA and other government agencies.
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Primary Containment for Biohazards: Selection, Installation and
Use of Biological Safety Cabinets, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the NIH, September 1995. Describes the requirements for the laboratory hardware required to handle deadly diseases and dangerous materials.
Biological Safety Cabinets, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Desribes the design of various classes of cabinets that allow hazardous biomateriasl to be handled safely.
BioSafety Documents, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A comprehensive collection of biosafety-related publications and Internet resources.
Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories
3rd Edition, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A definitive description of how Biosafety can and should be handled in a variety of laboratory settings.
The 1, 2, 3's of Biosafety Levels, by Jonathan Y. Richmond, Ph.D.
Director, Office of Health and Safety, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A description of the various levels of biosafety used to determine biohazards and implement safe handling procedures.
Guidelines for the Safe Transport of Infectious Substances and
Diagnostic Specimens World Health Organization (1997) [.pdf format]
Guidelines for Research Involving Recombinant DNA molecules, April 1998, NIH. The purpose of these NIH Guidelines is to specify practices for constructing and handling: (i) recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecules, and (ii) organisms and viruses containing recombinant DNA molecules.
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NASA KSC Environmental Program Office National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). A description of the various activities KSC is engaged in as NASA meets NEPA requirements. NASA Kennedy Space Center.
NEPAnet, A collection of resources at the Department of Energy pertaining to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969. NEPA requires all federal agencies to consider environmental values in the planning of agency actions and activities that may have an impact upon the human environment, before the action is taken. NEPA also directs federal agencies to consider alternatives to the proposed action. The information compiled during the NEPA process and any
environmental considerations is to be made available to the public as well as to other federal, state and local agencies.
EPA Laws and Regulations. A collection of resources relating to environmental protection laws and regulations that are in force, under review, or being proposed. Environmental Protection Agency.
Summaries of NEPA, Associated Laws and Executive Orders, A collection of summaries and detailed descriptions of rules and regulations specified under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). General Services Administration.
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The following exerpts from this NASA history of the Apollo program describe various aspects of the biological quarantine protocols used during the initial lunar landing missions.
Chapter 1 - America Starts for the Moon: 1957-1963
Chapter 7 - Setback and Recovery: 1967
Chapter 8 - Final Preparations: 1968
Chapter 9 - Primary Mission Accomplished
Chapter 11 - First Phase of Lunar Exploration Completed: 1969-1970
Chapter 12 - Apollo Assumes Its Final Form: 1970-1971
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