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The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will establish an ad hoc committee to review and assess recent research sponsored by NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) relating to the planetary protection concern that hypothetical martian life might exist on the surfaces of the martian moons, Phobos and Deimos, consequent to their ejection from the surface of Mars following a major impact event.
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Consensus
·2019
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...
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Description
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will establish an ad hoc committee to review and assess recent research sponsored by NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) relating to the planetary protection concern that hypothetical martian life might exist on the surfaces of the martian moons, Phobos and Deimos, consequent to their ejection from the surface of Mars following a major impact event. In particular, the committee will address the following tasks:
1. Review, in the context of current understanding of conditions relevant to inactivation of carbon-based life, recent theoretical, experimental, and modelling research on the environments and physical conditions encountered by Mars ejecta during the following processes:
a) excavation from the martian surface via crater-forming events;
b) while in transit through cismartian space;
c) during deposition on Phobos or Deimos; and
d) after deposition on Phobos or Deimos;
2. Recommend 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 the ICSU Committee on Space Research (COSPAR); and
3. In what specific ways is classification of sample return from Deimos a different case than sample return from Phobos?
4. What relevant information for classification of sample return is available from published studies of martian meteorites on Earth?
5. What are the planetary protection consequences of taking a surface sample at depths of 0–2 cm versus taking a sample extending down to depths of 2-10 cm or deeper?
6. Suggest any other refinements in planetary protection requirements that that might be required to accommodate spacecraft missions to and sample returned from Phobos and/or Deimos.
Contributors
Committee
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Committee Membership Roster Comments
Sponsors
NASA
Staff
David Smith
Lead
Mia Brown
Andrea Rebholz
