Questions tagged [planetary-protection]
The careful sterilization of any space probes or missions to prevent contaminating any extraterrestrial worlds with life from Earth. Not to be confused with [planetary-defense], which protects Earth from asteroids and other physical threats.
22 questions
0
votes
1
answer
184
views
Are any space agencies working on an (essentially) 100% reliable sterilization technique for spacecraft bound for subsurface ocean worlds?
One answer to my previous question Is there any demonstrated or even proposed technology that can sterilize a spacecraft with 100% certainty and yet leave it electronically functional? asserts:
...
- 151k
1
vote
7
answers
3k
views
Are people actually serious about mining the Moon?
I see a lot of enthusiasm about the possibility of mining the Moon. But worryingly, I don't see much said about the potential horrific effects of this.
I mean, guys: the Moon is actually pretty damn ...
- 255
7
votes
1
answer
641
views
Who decided that a <1 in 10,000 probability of contaminating the europan ocean by a viable Earth microorganism was legally and ethically sufficient?
In comments below Is there any demonstrated or even proposed technology that can sterilize a spacecraft with 100% certainty and yet leave it electronically functional? there is a link to Europa Lander ...
- 151k
27
votes
2
answers
5k
views
Is there any demonstrated or even proposed technology that can sterilize a spacecraft with 100% certainty and yet leave it electronically functional?
In this answer to Why are there no robotic missions on Europa or Enceladus I wrote:
Missions going through the ice and into the ocean are currently hypothetical and problematic. You need a lot of ...
- 151k
2
votes
0
answers
33
views
Cost of cleaning a rover up to COSPAR IVc standard
To this date no rover or lander was able to access the so-called Mars Special Regions (like where seasonal flows occur) because of the required COSPAR IVc level (no more than 30 spores for the whole ...
- 1,684
4
votes
1
answer
102
views
What do non-NASA authorities do in regards to Planetary Protection?
From sma.nasa.gov:
Planetary Protection is the practice of protecting solar system bodies from contamination by Earth life and protecting Earth from possible life forms that may be returned from ...
- 5,505
10
votes
3
answers
1k
views
What precautions are planned to prevent samples returned from Mars crashing and releasing organisms into Earth's environment?
Bias disclaimer: I think that returning samples from Mars to Earth at a point in time where we also suspect there is a chance that there is microbial life on Mars is ill-advised and arrogant. We are ...
- 151k
6
votes
0
answers
79
views
How are interplanetary spacecraft protected from biological contamination while being integrated on their launchers?
After having been disinfected in some NASA lab for forward planetary protection reasons, how are spacecraft stored and brought to the launch pad and loaded into the fairings, in order to prevent them ...
- 27k
7
votes
1
answer
264
views
Does exploration of Venus' atmosphere now require any planetary protection protocols?
This answer quotes Marc Rayman's August 21, 2018 Dawn Journal entry:
Not all solar system bodies need such protection. The Moon, Mercury and Venus, for example, have not been of interest for ...
- 8,693
5
votes
1
answer
353
views
Why was Dawn placed into an orbit that would only be stable for "decades"
Last year NASA put Dawn into an orbit around Ceres that Ars Technica said "would remain stable for decades" so as to not contaminate Ceres.
Decades are pretty small on the cosmic scale though. Why ...
13
votes
1
answer
3k
views
What will happen to Parker Solar Probe in the long term?
Will the probe be intentionally crashed anywhere? Or is keeping space decontaminated not an issue here since temperature and radiation will sterilize anything in that kind of orbit?
- 5,505
4
votes
2
answers
714
views
Why would bringing samples from Mars back to Earth be a "civilization-level changing capability"?
The Space News article NASA continues Mars sample return mission studies
Among those planned missions is Mars sample return, a multi-mission architecture that involves collecting samples of Martian ...
- 151k
14
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Why not bring life to Venus along with the next exploring mission?
Why not bring cyanobacteria and fertilizer to the atmosphere of Venus to improve conditions for life there by producing oxygen ?
Planetary protection could be a reason.
According to Wikipedia:
...
- 7,561
5
votes
1
answer
248
views
Is Curiosity allowed to investigate the subsurface of the "clay unit " near Mount Sharp?
From the bottom image in this article from september 2016 it can be seen that there was a possible path for Curiosity in the direction of Mount Sharp (Aeolis Mons).
At the end of januari 2018 however ...
- 7,561
20
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Why is Curiosity not heading for Peace Vallis?
For over 5 years Curiosity has been successfully searching for many signs that water was once present at Gale crater. Its geology is notable for containing both clays and sulfate minerals that may ...
- 7,561
14
votes
1
answer
693
views
What sterilizations or other preparations or approval were necessary to send the Tesla Roadster into an orbit that may impact life-capable planets?
I understand NASA and other space agencies have rules in place to protect planets or moons that might harbor life. This includes requirements to sterilize spacecraft as well as avoid impacts.
There ...
user3087
32
votes
2
answers
8k
views
Is it true that NASA is hiring a new 'planetary protection officer'?
NASA is hiring a new 'planetary protection officer' to defend Earth from alien matter, and the pay is a six-figure salary: as much as $187,000 a year.
When we are not sure whether aliens exist, why ...
- 675
0
votes
3
answers
174
views
How does "planetary protection" apply to Europa since Europa is not a planet?
NASA has this "planetary protection" scheme. But it seems to apply to non-planets, like Enceladus and Europa. Thus Galileo and Cassini probes are crashed into their gas giants. How does this add up? ...
- 27k
9
votes
3
answers
935
views
Why are we concerned about Cassini contaminating Saturn's moons when we landed Huygens probe on one of them?
Cassini is scheduled to crash land into Saturn later in 2017. The reason stated was that they did not want to risk contaminating any of Saturn's moons.
However, during the Cassini mission, we landed ...
- 91
12
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Why do we worry about contaminating some solar bodies but not others?
On 15th September 2017, the Cassini probe will be destroyed by crashing it into Saturn. This will be done in order to eliminate the unlikely risk of it crashing into and forward contaminating one of ...
- 273
7
votes
2
answers
890
views
What plan does SpaceX have for planetary protection?
In the world of space exploration, the international community is extremely concerned with avoiding contamination of extraterrestrial bodies with life from Earth. NASA has a very robust and stringent ...
- 5,636
27
votes
4
answers
8k
views
Why do deep space probes have to be sterilized?
Correct me if I'm wrong but a probe to Mars will take months, during which time it's exposed to a vacuum and irradiated by the sun. It sounds to me like this would kill any micro-organisms on the ...
- 4,606