Re: Free Mg Rover Epc Electronic Parts Catalog 2005.iso Programs
Carey Jangam
To accomplish these goals, the Office of Planetary Protection assists in the construction of sterile (or low biological burden) spacecraft, the development of flight plans that protect planetary bodies of interest, the development of plans to protect the Earth from returned extraterrestrial samples, and the formulation and application of space policy as it applies to Planetary Protection.
Planetary Protection works in conjunction with solar system mission planners in order to ensure compliance with NASA policy and international agreements. Ultimately, the objective of Planetary Protection is to support the scientific study of chemical evolution and the origins of life in the solar system.
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Planetary Protection is an agreed international practice that is defined by theUnited Nations; promulgated by theCommittee on Space Research; and practiced by space-faring agencies such as NASA, theEuropean Space Agency,Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, and others.
Planetary Protection requirements are specific to the type of mission and explored planetary bodies. Accordingly, NASA assigns each mission a Planetary Protection Category based on the type of planned encounter (e.g., flyby, orbiter or lander) and the type of planetary bodies that are encountered and explored during the mission (e.g., planet, moon, comet or asteroid). In general, the Planetary Protection Categories (Categories I-V) are organized to reflect the degree a target (or encountered) planetary body may provide clues regarding life or prebiotic chemical evolution and can be further refined through planetary target and type of mission. When exploring a target body that may provide clues to the process of chemical evolution and/or the origin of life, spacecraft will have a higher level of cleanliness, with the mission providing detailed operating procedures. When exploring a target body that potentially supports Earth life, spacecraft will undergo stringent cleaning and sterilization processes and may be subject to certain operating restrictions. Planetary Protection requirements and mission categories are based on the scientific advice of the Space Studies Board and on NASA or international policy guidelines.
Planetary Protection requirements for each mission and target body are determined based on the scientific advice of the SpaceStudies Board and on NASA or international policy guidelines. Each mission iscategorized according to the type of encounter it will have (e.g., flyby, orbiter or lander)and the nature of its destination (e.g., a planet, moon, comet or asteroid). If the target bodyhas the potential to provide clues about life or prebiotic chemical evolution, a spacecraft goingthere must meet a higher level of cleanliness and some operating restrictions will be imposed.Spacecraft going to target bodies with the potential to support Earth life must undergo stringentcleaning and sterilization processes and greater operating restrictions.
Compliance with Planetary Protection requirements is mandatory for NASA missions, per NPD 8700.1, NASA Policy for Safety and Mission Success.The first and most important step in complying with NASA Planetary Protection policyis avoiding unintended encounters with solar system objects. As described in NPR 8715.24, Planetary Protection Provisions for Robotic Extraterrestrial Missions, missionsmust meet a certain set of forward contamination criteria including
Careful mission design and planning are essential elements when considering Planetary Protectionrequirements, which are both mission and target body dependent. Consultations with the Planetary Protection Officer (PPO) during mission development is critical in ensuringcompliance with NASA policy.
Planetary Protection is the practice of protecting solar system bodies from harmful contamination by Earth life to enable scientific exploration (forward contamination) and protecting the Earth-Moon system from possible harmful contamination that may be returned from other solar system bodies (backward contamination). Recognizing the Outer Space Treaty, which has been signed and ratified by 110 countries, the goals of Planetary Protection are to
The first mission to use Planetary Protection recommendations from the United Nations Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) was the Ranger project, a series of unmanned spacecraft in the 1960s whose objective was to take close-up images of the Moon. In 1967, the United States, the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom were the first nations to sign the Outer Space Treaty, which is the legal framework for space exploration. The first article of the Outer Space Treaty reads,
Planetary Protection requirements to control forward contamination begin on Earth and are accomplished by understanding mission science, operational requirements and goals based upon the environmental characteristics of each planetary destination. Forward Planetary Protection requirements protect the integrity of science exploration, including the search for and study of potential extraterrestrial life.
All spacecraft such as orbiters, landers and rovers must be built in cleanrooms that meet International Organization for Standardization specifications for particulate control and air flow as well as gowning protocols for protective clothing.
Planetary Protection requires workers to wear full cleanroom garments. These include head coverings, coveralls and shoe covers. Workers wear these garments over their street clothes to prevent contaminants such as clothing fibers and hair and skin particles from entering the cleanroom and potentially transferring to sensitive spaceflight hardware.
NASA uses multiple cleaning methods to reduce the number of viable organisms on a spacecraft and vaporize chemical remnants of terrestrial biology. Dry Heat Microbial Reduction is a process that heats hardware under controlled humidity, temperature and time conditions. This method not only kills microbes on the surface or encapsulated within hardware, but the heating process can bake off organic molecules from hardware surface.
If spacecraft parts or scientific instruments are susceptible to damage from heating, then there are other methods for microbial reduction, such as exposure to vapor hydrogen peroxide or ultraviolet light. Each cleaning method has benefits and drawbacks to be considered when deciding on the best approach.
Exposed hardware surfaces are cleaned during the assemble process by alcohol wiping. Alcohol does not destroy bacterial spores in general, rather, they are removed by the mechanical action of physical cleaning. Hardware is wiped clean before final assembly and installation. Workers routinely wipe down flight hardware surfaces that remain accessible to maintain cleanliness.
There are different mission categories that determine the Planetary Protection requirements for each mission. Based upon Committee on Space Research recommendations, Planetary Protection categorizes each planetary body reflecting its importance in the search for evidence of fossil life, present-day life or prebiotic chemical evolution.
The three worlds that have the highest scientific interest in possible extraterrestrial life carry the strictest exploration requirements for Planetary Protection and are Mars, Europa and Enceladus. A mission to these worlds is either Category III (flyby/orbiter) or Category IV (lander).
Planetary Protection is an agreed international practice that is defined by the United Nations and its Committee on Space Research. Space-faring agencies that implement Planetary Protection policies include the European Space Agency, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency and others.
The Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) was established October 1958 with the objective of promoting international guidelines for scientific research in space and emphasizing the exchange of results, information and opinions.
The Outer Space Treaty (OST) was signed on Jan. 27, 1967, in Washington D.C., London and Moscow. It now has 110 states-parties. It includes 17 Articles that provide the legal framework for space exploration.
Based upon new scientific discoveries and exploratory capabilities, COSPAR provides accepted international guidelines and policy standards for compliance with the OST. Overall, there have been over 50 years of international collaboration in space exploration policy.
All commercial space companies that partner with NASA on missions must work in compliance with Planetary Protection requirements. All policies, guidelines and mission requirements are publicly available to commercial space companies.
The initial assessment and detailed areas of interest are then directly used to evaluate the potential impacts for harmful contamination under the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (U.N., 1967), Article IX. The technical assessment is then provided to the FAA for further consideration as part of the pre-application consultation and license application process.
The number of microbes on the surface of a spacecraft is called its bioburden. A part of a spacecraft (usually a square meter) is sampled by using a wipe or a swab. The collected sample is then analyzed in a culture dish, and the number of bacterial colonies are measured. This will give an estimate of the number of bacteria per square meter of surface. If the bioburden exceeds the Planetary protection limit, then the spacecraft is recleaned and retested.
We have not yet discovered whether there is life beyond Earth. All currently known forms of life, microbial or otherwise, exists on Earth. Any known microbes (so far) that are on Mars have been carried there from Earth by human spacecraft!
As the search for life beyond Earth advances, Planetary Protection requirements are modified to reflect new scientific knowledge about the diversity of life on Earth and the detection capabilities of advanced instruments.
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