Planetary protection

(1) Committee On Space Research (COSPAR)

Planetary Protection Policy (24 March 2011)

I particularly recommend the report of the Workshop on Ethical Considerations for Planetary Protection in Space Exploration, June 2010

The International Mars Exploration Programme and Current Planetary Protection Measures by G. Kminek, Vice-Chair, COSPAR Panel on Planetary Protection

 The role of COSPAR in space exploration and in preserving and promoting science (This is a slide presentation.)

ESA planetary protection page

NASA planetary protection categories
The categories
About the categories Mission design

Review of the MEPAG Report on Mars Special Regions, 21 September 2015
MEPAG is the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group.  This document is the final report, in prepublication format. It recommends revising planetary protection requirements for Mars Special Regions, so as to be consistent with current understanding of both the martian environment and the physical and chemical limits for the survival and propagation of microbial and other life on Earth.  The report is addressed to NASA, ESA and COSPAR.  79 pages but it’s not quite as daunting as it sounds. Contents page is p xiii. Meat of the report between pages 5 and 34.

 
(2) "The Overprotection of Mars"  

Story in Astrobiology Magazine Nov 2013, describes (a) the overprotection of Mars paper from Alberto G. Fairén and Dirk Schulze-Makuch, Nature Geoscience July 2013, arguing that planetary protection policies guarding spacecraft from bio-contamination need to be re-evaluated because they inhibit a more ambitious agenda to search for life on Mars; and (b) the rebuttal in the following issue from Catharine A. Conley, NASA Planetary Protection Officer, and John D. Rummel, current Chair of the COSPAR Panel on Planetary Protection.   



(3) Other links

>> “Mars is pretty clean. Her job at NASA is to keep it that way”  A piece in the New York Times Oct 5, 2015 about planetary protection of Mars, and profiling planetary protection officer Catharine A. Conley. 

>> When biospheres collide : a history of NASA’s planetary protection programs Michael Meltzer, NASA, 2011

>> NASA Workshop on planetary protection knowledge gaps for human extraterrestrial missions, March 24-26, 2015

>> A blog about the above planetary protection workshop

>> Should we search for life on Mars before sending astronauts? Popular Science,  October 5, 2015.  Excellent summary of the issues

>> Recurring slope lineae on Mars: NASA faces contamination dilemma over future investigations. Space.com, September 23, 2015

>> Same theme in New York Times Oct. 5, 2015, including profile of Catharine A. Conley, NASA planetary protection officer
 

(4) Invasive species, so what?

>> Here's a fairly typical newspaper report on an invasive species: World’s most invasive ladybird is consolidating its presence in the UK and is responsible for the decline of seven native species

>> And here is a contrary viewpoint. “Trial by repetition”, by Fred Pearce, a consultant for New Scientist and the author of The New Wild: Why alien species will be nature's salvation. He says it is widely stated that invasive species were a major culprit in recent extinctions, despite a lack of evidence for it. New Scientist 5 September 2015. Full story only available to  subscribers.
 
>> A thought provoking blog on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation website,  containing a link to a 50-minute radio programme, which questions whether it is justifiable to condemn invasive species, and even to use the terms alien and native. However I felt the programme underplayed the harm of alien species. And sadly the producer didn't find time to explore whether and how all this applies to Mars.

>> On a similar theme, this Wikipedia article on invasion biology terminology is worth reading.