National Academies Press: OpenBook

Review of the MEPAG Report on Mars Special Regions (2015)

Chapter: 4 Human Spaceflight

« Previous: 3 Martian Geological and Mineralogical Features Potentially Related to Special Regions
Suggested Citation:"4 Human Spaceflight." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2015. Review of the MEPAG Report on Mars Special Regions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21816.
×

4

Human Spaceflight

Section 6 of the SR-SAG2 report addresses the implications and opportunities of the identification of Special Regions for human Mars missions. The review committee noted that the impact of human spaceflight on planetary protection, in general, and Special Regions, in particular, had not been considered with the same rigor and thoroughness that had been applied to other parts of the SR-SAG2 report. Even though planning for human missions to Mars is in its infancy, the committee believes than the planetary protection implications of sending astronauts to Mars raises profound questions at the intersection of science, engineering, technology, project management, and public policy. The committee recognizes that the SR-SAG2 report was not the place to address and/or resolve these issues. However, a greater emphasis that the issues exist was warranted.1 Compounding this lack of emphasis, some statements made in the human exploration section of the SR-SAG2 report are inconsistent with other parts of the document. Examples of such inconsistencies include the following:

  • The first sentence in Section 6.1.1 (Water resources) states: “The polar caps (between ~80° and 90° latitude in each hemisphere) would be the major reservoir of H2O that can be accessed by human explorers and would not be considered to be Special Regions.” This suggests that all locations in the polar cap will not be Special Regions. Sufficient examination of the polar cap has not been accomplished to support this statement. In addition, no mention is made of the possibility of Special Regions being induced by modification of the environment by spacecraft or human explorers.
  • The second to last sentence in Section 6.1.1 states: “Therefore, other than the RSL sites and possibly active gullies, no location within the equatorial zone is considered Special.” As identified above, sufficient examination of all locations within the equatorial region has not been accomplished to support this statement. In addition, the statement itself does not recognize other features such as caves and thermal zones identified within the report that may exist within this region. This can lead to misunderstandings by future mission planners who are considering missions to these areas.

________________

1 The committee notes that the planetary protection community has taken some initial steps to address issues relating to the human exploration of Mars. The website of the March 2015 meeting “Human Missions & Planetary Protection: Workshop on Planetary Protection Knowledge Gaps for Human Extraterrestrial Missions,” http://planetaryprotection.nasa.gov/humanworkshop2015/, contains a useful summary of relevant issues and current activities.

Suggested Citation:"4 Human Spaceflight." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2015. Review of the MEPAG Report on Mars Special Regions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21816.
×

Moreover, some of the language used to describe the systems required for human missions can be interpreted to mean that human missions will not be required to follow the COSPAR planetary protection requirements, even if in the actual COSPAR policy it is explicitly stated: “The intent of this planetary protection policy is the same whether a mission to Mars is conducted robotically or with human explorers. Accordingly, planetary protection goals should not be relaxed to accommodate a human mission to Mars” (COSPAR 2015, p. 14).

The review committee also noted that this section does not include any findings. This is inconsistent with earlier sections of the report and misses the opportunity to solidify the importance of the COSPAR planetary protection requirements. The committee proposes a finding for this section.

New Finding 6-1: Human missions to Mars are required to fully follow the planetary protection requirements specified by COSPAR, including the limitations specified for Special Regions. This may prevent humans from landing in or entering areas that may be Special Regions or may become Special Regions through modifications of the environment by space systems and/or human explorers.

Finally the committee recognizes that human spaceflight systems operate differently than robotic systems. Understanding the implications of humans on Mars and the ability of human systems to meet COSPAR requirements is essential to ensuring that nations can continue to conduct science investigations without worrying that these human systems have contaminated places where science is being conducted.

Suggestions for future research directions relating to the issues discussed in this section can be found in Appendix A.

Suggested Citation:"4 Human Spaceflight." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2015. Review of the MEPAG Report on Mars Special Regions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21816.
×
Page 26
Suggested Citation:"4 Human Spaceflight." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2015. Review of the MEPAG Report on Mars Special Regions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21816.
×
Page 27
Next: 5 Generalization of Special Regions and the Utility of Maps »
Review of the MEPAG Report on Mars Special Regions Get This Book
×
Buy Paperback | $48.00 Buy Ebook | $38.99
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
Download Free PDF

Planetary protection is a guiding principle in the design of an interplanetary mission, aiming to prevent biological contamination of both the target celestial body and the Earth. The protection of high-priority science goals, the search for life and the understanding of the Martian organic environment may be compromised if Earth microbes carried by spacecraft are grown and spread on Mars. This has led to the definition of Special Regions on Mars where strict planetary protection measures have to be applied before a spacecraft can enter these areas.

At NASA's request, the community-based Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG) established the Special Regions Science Analysis Group (SR-SAG2) in October 2013 to examine the quantitative definition of a Special Region and proposed modifications to it, as necessary, based upon the latest scientific results. Review of the MEPAG Report on Mars Special Regions reviews the conclusions and recommendations contained in MEPAG's SR-SAG2 report and assesses their consistency with current understanding of both the Martian environment and the physical and chemical limits for the survival and propagation of microbial and other life on Earth. This report provides recommendations for an update of the planetary protection requirements for Mars Special Regions.

  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    Switch between the Original Pages, where you can read the report as it appeared in print, and Text Pages for the web version, where you can highlight and search the text.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  9. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!