Assessment of planetary protection requirements for Mars sample return missions / National Research Council of the National Academies.

• Author: National Research Council (U.S.)
• TeilnehmendeR: National Research Council (U.S.). Space Studies Board.; National Research Council (U.S.). Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences.; National Academies Press (U.S.); National Research Council (U.S.). Committee on the Review of Planetary Protection Requirements for Mars Sample Return Missions.; ProQuest (Firm)
• Year of Publication: 2009
• Language: English
• Physical Description: x, 80 p. :; ill.

NASA maintains a planetary protection policy to avoid the forward biological contamination of other worlds by terrestrial organisms, and back biological contamination of Earth from the return of extraterrestrial materials by spaceflight missions. Forward-contamination issues related to Mars missions...

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• The potential for past or present habitable environments on Mars
• Advances in microbial ecology
• The potential for finding biosignatures in returned Martian samples
• The potential for large-scale effects
• Sample containment and biohazard evaluation
• Sample-receiving facility and program oversight.