Speaker
Description
The search for life in the Universe has been one of the drivers for space exploration which has targeted in particular bodies harboring potentially habitable conditions. In order to ensure a safe and sustainable scientific exploration of such bodies, the Outer Space Treaty (OST) of 1967, in its article IX, stipulates against harmful contamination.
On that basis, the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) has established planetary protection guidelines which aim to guide compliance with the Treaty to protect against the harmful effects of forward and backward contamination so that a) the conduct of scientific investigations of possible extraterrestrial life forms, precursors and remnants must not be jeopardized and b) the Earth must be protected from the potential hazard posed by extraterrestrial matter carried by a spacecraft returning from an interplanetary mission.
A Planetary Protection (PP) Policy has been developed by COSPAR, providing an instrument for international consultation in the area of space research. The COSPAR Policy has non-binding status, which has allowed for a flexible and organic development, enabling the Policy to be updated as scientific understanding has developed. Further, the guidelines in the PP Policy are internationally endorsed and implemented by the national authority responsible for compliance with the OST. It is the only international standard on Planetary Protection for reference of spacefaring nations [1,2,3].
The COSPAR Panel on Planetary Protection (PPP) is currently composed of 26 international members with 12 members appointed by space agencies and a similar number of expert members [1]. The Panel has also ex-officio members and invites the private sector to contribute to its meetings.
The primary objective of the COSPAR PPP is to develop, maintain, and promote the COSPAR Policy and associated requirements for the reference of spacefaring nations and to guide compliance with the OST. It is not the purpose of the Panel to specify the means by which adherence to the COSPAR PP Policy and associated guidelines is achieved; this is reserved to the engineering judgment of the organization responsible for the planetary mission. But States are responsible for their national space activities, whether governmental or non-governmental, in accordance with OST article VI.
Recent activities of the PPP include: no changes were required for the missions to small bodies [1], or to Venus [4] where the findings were compatible with the current policy; other categories required some evolution to the Policy, such as for the Moon with new subcategories for landers [5] and a review of the Policy to improve the document with editorial clarifications [6].
On-going activities of the PPP concern in particular the Icy Worlds of the outer solar system that have become among the highest priority targets for spacecraft missions [7], and the Martian robotic [8] and crewed exploration [9].
References:
[1] Coustenis etal. (2023). Front. Astron. Space Sci. 10:1172546.
[2] Coustenis etal. (2019a), ROOM Journal, 44-48.
[3] Coustenis etal. (2019b). Space Research Today, 205, 14-26.
[4] Zorzano-Mier etal. (2022). LSSR, 37:18-24.
[5] COSPAR (2021). Fisk, etal., SRT, 211.
[6] Ehrenfreund etal. (2024). SRT 220, 10-13.
[7] Doran etal. (2024). LSSR, 41 pp. 86–99.
[8] Olsson-Francis, etal., (2022). LSSR, 36, 27-35.
[9] Spry etal. (2024). Astrobiology, 24(3):230-274.