An international consensus policy to prevent the biological cross-contamination of planetary bodies exists and is maintained by the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) of the International Council for Science, which is consultative to the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. Currently, COSPAR’s planetary protection policy does not specify the status of sample-return missions from Phobos or Deimos, the moons of Mars. Although the moons themselves are not considered potential habitats for life or of intrinsic relevance to prebiotic chemical evolution, recent studies indicate that a significant amount of material recently ejected from Mars could be present on the surface of Phobos and, to a lesser extent, Deimos.
This report reviews recent theoretical, experimental, and modeling research on the environments and physical conditions encountered by Mars ejecta during certain processes. It recommends whether missions returning samples from Phobos and/or Deimos should be classified as “restricted” or “unrestricted” Earth return in the framework of the planetary protection policy maintained by COSPAR. This report also considers the specific ways the classification of sample return from Deimos is a different case than sample return from Phobos.
Table of Contents |
skim chapter | |
|---|---|---|
| Front Matter | i-xvi | |
| Summary | 1-5 | |
| 1 Introduction | 6-20 | |
| 2 Overview and Assessment of the SterLim and JAXA Studies | 21-34 | |
| 3 Responses to the Statement of Task and Recommendations | 35-46 | |
| Appendixes | 47-48 | |
| Appendix A: Original Request from NASA | 49-50 | |
| Appendix B: Revised Request from NASA | 51-52 | |
| Appendix C: Committee Members and Staff Biographical Information | 53-58 | |
The National Academies Press and the Transportation Research Board have partnered with Copyright Clearance Center to offer a variety of options for reusing our content. You may request permission to:
For most Academic and Educational uses no royalties will be charged although you are required to obtain a license and comply with the license terms and conditions.
For information on how to request permission to translate our work and for any other rights related query please click here.
For questions about using the Copyright.com service, please contact:
Copyright Clearance Center
22 Rosewood Drive
Danvers, MA 01923
Tel (toll free): 855/239-3415 (select option 1)
E-mail: info@copyright.com
Web: https://www.copyright.com
Loading stats for Planetary Protection Classification of Sample Return Missions from the Martian Moons...
Finding similar items...
