WASHINGTON – The White House released a National Planetary Protection Strategy Dec. 30 outlining new assessments to prevent terrestrial contamination of other worlds and vice versa.
The National Planetary Protection Strategy, developed by an inter-institutional working group led by the National Space Council and Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), outlines the work to be done in the coming year to update the planetary protection policy, taking into account scientific advancement as well as growing private capabilities in space exploration.
The strategy aims to implement part of the updated National Space Policy, released December 9, that calls on OSTP, in conjunction with NASA and other agencies, to develop new planetary protection guidelines “in conjunction with scientific, commercial and international partners, for the proper protection of planetary bodies and the earth from harmful biological contamination. “
“Current and future missions to Mars and other destinations require a strategy to support a safe, sustainable and predictable Earth and space environment,” Scott Pace, executive secretary of the National Space Council, said in a statement. “By setting targets for the implementation of the 2020 National Space Policy on planetary protection, this strategy continues America’s leadership in scientific discovery, human exploration and private sector space activities.”
The planetary protection strategy has three broad objectives. One is to establish a “risk assessment and science-based guidelines” for reducing what is known as “forward contamination,” or contamination of other worlds by terrestrial life. It also leads an assessment of the role of planetary protection in the process of assessing government payload for private missions.
A second objective is to avoid “backward contamination” or possible contamination of the Earth by extraterrestrial life. The strategy mandates agencies to develop different frameworks for assessing the risks of returning samples and other sources of backward contamination, as well as an approval framework for such missions and procedures for safely handling materials returned from outside Earth.
A third objective is to incorporate private sector views on planetary conservation issues, given the growing opportunities and interest of companies in flight missions to other worlds, especially Mars. That goal includes the government’s work to develop guidelines for authorization and ongoing monitoring of private sector missions to destinations with implications for planetary protection.
The strategy does not set new policies, but instead outlines work on various issues to be done in the coming year. “It’s really a work plan,” said an administrative officer in the background. “It’s a strategy outlining the work that will be done over the next nine months to a year.”
Planetary protection has traditionally been primarily a problem for NASA. The agency has been working to update its own planetary conservation policy, based on recommendations from an independent review board last year. In July, NASA announced it would issue new interim guidelines to both reclassify most of the moon into a lower category that has no planetary protection requirements, and to study how to make the planetary protection guidelines compatible with future human missions to Mars.
“We are very good with what NASA has done, but the problem is that NASA rules and interim guidelines don’t really apply to the private sector,” said the administrative officer. The strategy follows what the official described as a “light approach” to all planetary protection rules for private missions. “We’re trying to find ways for people to move forward, but to do it safely.”
The strategy is also intended to leverage the expertise of other agencies. The interinstitutional working group comprised several cabinet departments, from Agriculture and Health and Human Services to Trade and State. It also included the Centers for Disease Control, Environmental Protection Agency, and the Federal Aviation Administration, among others.
Many of them were called in to support the work on backward contamination. “It’s a great opportunity to bring in departments and agencies that may not have collaborated on this issue in the past,” said an administrative officer, “but are now very excited to do so.”
“There really is no reason for the space guys to reinvent the wheel. There is an enormous amount of expertise available, ”added an official.
The planetary protection strategy is part of a wave of space policy activity by the White House in the closing weeks of the Trump administration. In addition to the updated national space policy, the White House released a nuclear space strategy on Dec. 16, setting out priorities for nuclear and propulsion capabilities development and related policy issues.