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Space Studies Board Annual Report 2006 (2007) / Chapter Skim
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6.1 Assessment of Planetary Protection Requirements for Venus Missions
Pages 64-65

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From page 64...
... Assess the surface and atmospheric environments of Venus with respect to their ability to support Earthorigin microbial contamination, and recommend measures, if any, that should be taken to prevent the forward contamination of Venus by future spacecraft missions; 2. Provide recommendations related to planetary protection issues associated with the return to Earth of samples from Venus; and 3.
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From page 65...
... Full details are contained in the attached "Assessment of Planetary Protection Requirements for Venus Missions." Because of the extreme temperature at the Venus surface, the fact that concentrated H2SO4 is sterilizing for all known Earth organisms, the consideration that the Venus cloud environment is extremely dehydrating and oxidizing, and the realization that any life forms adapted to the Venus clouds would not survive in Earth conditions, with respect to planetary protection issues, the task group concluded as follows: • No significant risk of forward contamination exists in landing on the surface of Venus; • No significant forward-contamination risk exists regarding the exposure of spacecraft to the clouds in the atmosphere of Venus; • No significant back-contamination risk exists concerning the return of atmospheric samples from the clouds in the atmosphere of Venus; and • No significant risk exists concerning back contamination from Venus surface sample returns. Currently, NASA classifies Venus missions under planetary protection Category II, which "includes all types of missions to target those bodies where there is significant interest relative to the process of chemical evolution and the origin of life, but where there is only a remote chance that contamination carried by a spacecraft could jeopardize future exploration,"2 rather than under the less restrictive Category I assigned by the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR)
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