Preventing the Forward Contamination of Mars

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Size: 166 pages, 8.5 x 11

Publication Year:2006

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Committee on Preventing the Forward Contamination of Mars, National Research Council
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Recent spacecraft and robotic probes to Mars have yielded data that are changing our understanding significantly about the possibility of existing or past life on that planet. Coupled with advances in biology and life-detection techniques, these developments place increasing ...
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Table of Contents
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Front Matter	i-xii
Executive Summary	1-10	(skim)
1 Introduction	11-21	(skim)
2 Policies and Practices in Planetary Protection	22-35	(skim)
3 Future Mars Exploration: The Rolling Wave	36-40	(skim)
4 Environments on Mars Relative to Life	41-68	(skim)
5 Expanding Our Knowledge of the Limits of Life on Earth	69-90	(skim)
6 Advances in Technologies for Life Detection and Bioburden Reduction	91-104	(skim)
7 Assessing Non-Living Contaminants of Concern	105-110	(skim)
8 A Path Forward for Planetary Protection in the 21st Century	111-123	(skim)
9 Transition Process and Time Line	124-128	(skim)
Appendix A Biographical Sketches of Committee Members and Staff	129-134	(skim)
Appendix B Recommendations from Two Previous NRC Reports on Forward Contamination	135-137	(skim)
Appendix C Summary of Procedures Currently Used to Assess Bioburden in Spacecraft Assembly Clean Rooms and on Spacecraft	138-139	(skim)
Appendix D History of Recommended Values for Probability of Growth	140-140	(skim)
Appendix E Approaches to Bioburden Reduction for Lander Missions to Mars	141-143	(skim)
Appendix F Ambiguities in Geomorphic Interpretation: Martian Gullies	144-147	(skim)
Appendix G Spacecraft Propellant and By-Products as Potential Contaminants	148-151	(skim)
Appendix H Acronyms and Abbreviations	152-154	(skim)

Description

Recent spacecraft and robotic probes to Mars have yielded data that are changing our understanding significantly about the possibility of existing or past life on that planet. Coupled with advances in biology and life-detection techniques, these developments place increasing importance on the need to protect Mars from contamination by Earth-borne organisms. To help with this effort, NASA requested that the NRC examine existing planetary protection measures for Mars and recommend changes and further research to improve such measures. This report discusses policies, requirements, and techniques to protect Mars from organisms originating on Earth that could interfere with scientific investigations. It provides recommendations on cleanliness and biological burden levels of Mars-bound spacecraft, methods to reach those levels, and research to reduce uncertainties in preventing forward contamination of Mars.

Preventing the Forward Contamination of Mars

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