The National Aeronautics and Space Administration strives to reach for new heights and reveal
the unknown, to benefit all humankind.
In this pursuit we explore places never before seen by humans, reaching out into the vast
unknown of space.
While doing so, we learn more about ourselves in the process.
Part of that mission is the responsibility of what is called “Planetary Protection”,
both protecting our own precious home, and protecting the undiscovered country we are
now pioneering, from any harmful contamination we could introduce.
Whether it’s a rover landing on a distant rocky world,
robotic probes skimming the surface of a liquid spewing moon,
or returning samples back to our home planet from a far away celestial object,
the office of Planetary Protection strives to protect all of the planets, all of the
time.
The importance of planetary protection is not just an issue of international treaty
and legality; it’s a simple scientific lesson we’ve learned from Earth history.
We all know the hard environmental lessons learned from past mistakes of contamination
here on Earth:
From invasive flora and fauna tracked from one continent to another/
from sea-going natives that become lakefront pestilence /
from infestations of small vermin spreading predator-free across vast landscapes.
We must remain vigilant to not expose our largely unexplored planetary neighbors to
contamination.
It’s our responsibility, and greatly to our advantage, to prevent invasive species
in interplanetary exploration as well as on Earth.
Obviously rabbits and iguanas aren’t the type of contaminants that could stow away
on a robotic planetary mission, but is it possible to take microbial life accidentally
to another world?
What if we contaminate a planet with bacteria from Earth before we have a chance to determine
if life exist there naturally first?
All the science we would do there would be compromised forever; tainted or lost!
We know from science that life adapts to extreme environments in unexpected ways.
Frigid polar caps once thought barren teem with tiny enduring forms of life.
Hot scorching deserts are often homes to hibernating creatures that spring into life with the onset
of rain.
Take for example the Himalayan Tardigrade (TAR-de-Grade) or “Water Bear”.
A mere 1/16th of an inch long, they can survive freezing in liquid nitrogen and boiling in
water, and can stay dry and dormant for years.
These little creatures have even survived biological experiments aboard spacecraft,
living through exposure to the vacuum of space.
Planetary Protection is here to make sure we don’t unknowingly take hitchhikers with
us further into the galaxy.
When we explore new landing zones and places of interest, we want to confirm that native
life isn’t already there, before we contaminate or displace it with Earth life, riding aboard
robotic explorers or the eventual first visit from human explorers.
We also need to know that the places astronauts will eventually set foot are safe for exploration.
Therefore NASA scientists and engineers are working hard at overcoming every obstacle
that could get in the way of humans going to our next destination;
with robotics, rockets, suits and more… and planetary protection is part of that Journey
to Mars; in development, clean rooms, launches and landings.
So what does The Office of Planetary Protection do?
The first step is to identify how the mission will interact with the planetary target.
Most objects in the solar system don't provide habitats for Earth life, so protection of
these objects is easy: we just keep records of what our spacecraft do, and where they
end up.
Today, there are only three solar system objects that are known to provide possible habitats
for Earth life, so these objects have the most stringent restrictions.
Each one is unique, studied in different ways, and with different instruments.
Flybys of Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa, with its sub-surface global ocean, or of Enceladus
[en-SELL-ah-dus], Saturn’s tiny ice-ejecting moon, are much different from the exploration
being done today on and around the planet Mars with robotic orbiters and landers.
From the Viking project’s historic firsts in Mars exploration to today’s Curiosity
Rover and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, to the future Mars 2020 rover, these missions
were carefully treated to avoid accidentally releasing Earth life.
Fly-by, orbit, land, rove or even sample return; with each future mission comes it’s own
set of planetary protection guidelines and monitoring systems.
After the mission is identified, the next step is to figure out how to keep Earth microbes
away from the hardware that will interact with the target surface.
Clean it.
Wrap it.
Bake it.
Planetary Protection monitors NASA clean rooms, rooms that have specially designed, controlled
environments where scientists and engineers prepare payloads and delivery systems for
mission.
The clean room “Bunny Suit” as it’s called keeps human contaminants contained,
making sure the clean room stays a “clean room”, down to the microscopic level.
From ground processing to launch, flight, landing and beyond, Planetary Protection remains
vigilant.
We have the responsibility to keep Mars and other planets pristine for scientific investigation,
without influence of Earth borne contaminants.
We want to know if there is life on other planets, and to find that out, the data must
be unspoiled.
For example, if your roommate sees your nice new contaminant-free carton of milk sitting
in the cold environment of the fridge, do you want them to use a clean glass to get
their milk sample?
Or should they just drink directly from your carton and expose the rest of the milk and
eventually you to their biological hitchhikers?
We also have the responsibility to make sure that future astronaut crews will be safe when
observing the red planet in person, and protect planetary resources for possible future use.
Most importantly, we have the responsibility to protect our planet Earth from exposure
to possible alien microbial life, that could be present in samples returned by robotic
or crewed missions.
The Office of Planetary Protection is here to protect all of the planets, all of the
time -- all the planets in our Solar System, including the Earth.