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Preventing the Forward Contamination of Europa (2000) / Chapter Skim
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Executive Summary
Pages 1-2

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... The Task Group on the Forward Contamination of Europa concluded that current cleaning and sterilization techniques are satisfactory to meet the needs of future space missions to Europa. These techniques include Vikingderived procedures such as cleaning surfaces with isopropyl alcohol andJor sporicides and sterilization by dry heating, as well as more modern processes such as sterilization by hydrogen peroxide, assuming that final sterilization is accomplished via exposure of the spacecraft to Europa's radiation environment.
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From page 2...
... The task group was unable to reach complete agreement on the central issue of the planetary protection standards that must be met by future missions to Europa. The majority if its members believe that Europa's potential importance to studies of chemical evolution and the origin of life is great but that detailed understanding of the europan environment and the survival of terrestrial organisms in extreme conditions is so limited that the current planetary protection methodology is not readily applicable to Europa missions.
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Key Terms

  • radiation environment
  • minority viewpoints
  • protection requirements
  • europa missions
  • terrestrial organism

  • chemical evolution
  • bioload reduction
  • sterilization techniques
  • ice shell
  • liquid water

  • terrestrial organisms
  • europan ocean
  • existing culturing
  • current prelaunch
  • modern processes

  • spacecraft missions
  • interacts chemically
  • exposure facility
  • contaminating material
  • content result

  • probabilistic calculation
  • current planetary
  • current cleaning
  • time scale
  • technological drawbacks

  • current procedures
  • ocean water
  • global ocean
  • europan environment
  • future missions


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