![]() ![]() What are some examples of actions that can be taken to reduce the “bioburden” on spacecraft? Stanford developed some of the very first smallsats, called cubesats. Lastly, small spacecraft with the potential to go to deep space are being developed at very low cost at both universities and companies and we highlighted concern about whether these small spacecraft will be overly burdened by the cost of PP requirements. Spacesuits can leak or “blow out,” potentially releasing all manner of earthly microbes and contaminating the surface for any future science missions. Next, with the probability of humans landing on Mars ever more realistic, our reports recommend that NASA conduct research to see if there can be a Martian “exploration zone” where humans can land and contamination, if it occurs, would do no harm. government needed to “continually authorize and supervise” private activities in space. Our committee concluded that the Outer Space Treaty applied to both the government and the private sector, and that it was very clear some entity in the U.S. The complication is that NASA is a mission agency with huge PP expertise but not a regulatory agency like the Federal Aviation Administration, which has little PP knowledge but issues licenses for commercial launches. Finally, there are many more international players than before who may not have experience with PP issues.Ĭan you summarize the main findings and recommendations from this new report?įirst, NASA and the world need to seriously plan for emerging commercial/entrepreneurial space activities in deep space. In addition, some very challenging new science missions with very complex planetary protection requirements such as Mars Sample Return and Europa Clipper to a moon of Jupiter are underway. There’s also the advent and explosion of smallsats or cubesats. It also captures emerging issues, such as serious planning for human Mars missions, including Musk’s aspiration to send people to the Red Planet by 2024. We need some way of knowing whether they are following appropriate PP procedures. This phrase refers primarily to space entrepreneurs such as Elon Musk (SpaceX), who launched his own cherry red Tesla Roadster to a Mars-like orbit around the sun aboard a Falcon Heavy rocket. What are some examples of new developments and what challenges and concerns do they raise? The report notes that the “advent of new space activities and players in the exploration and use of space” is raising new issues with regards to planetary protection (PP). The former issue is called “forward contamination” and the latter is defined as “back or backward contamination.” These concepts were codified in the Outer Space Treaty (OST) of 1967, which has been signed by over 120 countries, including the U.S. Can you briefly explain what the term means?Įven before Sputnik, there were scientific meetings that discussed the potential for space exploration to a) carry earthly microbes to other worlds, thereby confusing or contaminating future scientific investigations, or b) return alien life to Earth and thus possibly threaten our own biosphere. Here, Hubbard discusses the long history of planetary protection, the dilemma posed by Elon Musk launching a Tesla Roadster into space, and the precautions in place to guard against contamination by NASA’s upcoming Mars Sample Return mission, which is scheduled to kick off this summer with the launch of the space agency’s Perseverance Rover.Ĭoncerns about planetary protection date back to the earliest years of the Space Age. Hubbard is a co-author of a new report published last month by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine that reviews recent findings and recommendations related to “planetary protection” or “planetary quarantine” - the safeguarding of Earth and other worlds from biological cross-contamination. ![]() “I have heard from some colleagues in the human spaceflight area that they can see how, in the current environment, the general public could become more concerned about bringing back some alien microbe, virus or contamination,” said Hubbard, who is also the former director of NASA Ames and the first Mars program director. ![]() ![]() It’s an old fear that’s taken on a new relevance in the era of COVID-19, said Scott Hubbard, an adjunct professor of aeronautics and astronautics at Stanford University. Artist rendering of a spaceship leaving a lunar colony. ![]()
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