Assessment of the Report of NASA's Planetary Protection Independent Review Board (2020) / Chapter Skim
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Appendix B: "Review and Assessment of Planetary Protection Policy Development Processes:" Findings and Recommendations
Appendix B: "Review and Assessment of Planetary Protection Policy Development Processes:" Findings and Recommendations
Pages 57-62
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From page 57... ...
States parties to the OST have not experienced serious disagreements on the meaning of, or compliance with, the treaty's planetary protection provisions. Finding: Planetary protection policies and requirements for forward and back contamination apply equally to both government-sponsored and private-sector missions to Mars.
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From page 58... ...
Recommendation 3.2: NASA should assess the completeness of planetary protection policies and initi ate a process to formally define the planetary protection requirements that are missing. NASA should ensure that all future headquarters planetary protection requirements imposed on spaceflight missions follow NASA standard project management and systems engineering protocols for review, approval, and flow-down of requirements and, when disagreements occur, ensure that NASA's conflict resolution process is followed.
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From page 59... ...
Finding: NASA has not adequately funded the research necessary to advance approaches to implementing planetary protection protocols and verifying that those protocols satisfy NASA's increasingly complex planetary protection requirements. For an agency program of solar system exploration and planning for human exploration missions, costing several billion dollars per year, an investment in relevant planetary protection research and technology of less than one tenth of one percent of that total seems inadequate.
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From page 60... ...
Recommendation 4.1: The Administration, most probably through the National Space Council, National Security Council, and the Office of Science and Technology Policy, should revisit NSC-25 in light of NASA plans for Mars sample-return missions and human-crewed missions to Mars and revise or replace its provisions for engaging relevant federal agencies in developing back contamination protection policies. Finding: The effectiveness of COSPAR's development of planetary protection policy guidelines and inter national compliance with the provisions of the Outer Space Treaty has mitigated the need for significant interventions by the Department of State.
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From page 61... ...
The Outer Space Treaty requires states parties, including the United States, to authorize and continually super vise non-governmental entities, including private sector enterprises, for any space activity that implicates the treaty, including its planetary protection provisions. Recommendation 6.2: Congress should address the regulatory gap by promulgating legislation that grants jurisdiction to an appropriate federal regulatory agency to authorize and supervise private-sector space activities that raise planetary protection issues.
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From page 62... ...
62 ASSESSMENT OF THE REPORT OF NASA'S PLANETARY PROTECTION INDEPENDENT REVIEW BOARD • etting planetary protection research and technology investment priorities, and S • dentifying the agency's strategy for dealing with major policy issues such as sample-return, human I missions to Mars, and private sector involvement in solar system exploration missions.
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