The COSPAR Planetary Protection Requirements for Space Missions to Mars

The Committee on Space Research’s (COSPAR) Planetary Protection Policy (herein referred to as the Policy) has been developed through deliberation between the scientific community and the national space agencies to 1) ensure that scientific investigations of possible extra-terrestrial life forms, precursors, and remnants are not jeopardized; and 2) Earth is protected from the potential hazard posed by extra-terrestrial matter carried by a spacecraft returning from an interplanetary mission (COSPAR 2020).The COSPAR Panel on Planetary Protection (herein referred to as the Panel)regularly updates the Policy based on workshops and activities that are led by the community, or by national committees. For example, the requirements for the icy moons of the outer Solar System have been scrutinized as part of a European Commission’s H2020 Programme (Rettberg et al 2019) and a National Research Council report (NRC 2012), which led to recommendations being made to COSPAR, which resulted in an update to the regulations (COSPAR 2020). Another example is the recent update of the regulations relating to the moon. The Panel conducted a dedicated community consultation that led to an updated Policy (COSPAR, 2021). [...

The COSPAR Panel on Planetary Protection: Recent Activities

Planetary Protection is an international concern and responsibility. The international standard for planetary protection has been developed by the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) which provides a forum for international consultation and has formulated a Planetary Protection Policy with associated requirements that are put in place after examination of the most updated relevant scientific studies and recommendations made by the COSPAR Panel on Planetary Protection. The COSPAR Planetary Protection Policy, and its associated requirements, is not legally binding under international law but it is the only internationally agreed planetary protection standard with implementation guidelines for reference in compliance with Article IX of the United Nations Outer Space Treaty of 1967. States Parties to the Outer Space Treaty are responsible for national space activities under Article VI, including the activities of governmental and non-governmental entities. It is the State that ultimately will be held responsible for wrongful acts committed by its jurisdictional subjects

On the Real-height Profiles of the F2-layer

Since modern digital ionosondes and minicomputers are now generally accessible there is no justification any more for using inversion schemes in which the influence of the magnetic field is ignored or a monotonous profile is assumed so that the regular presence of valleys is neglected. Therefore inversion schemes like POLAN and ARTIST should at least be applied. We propose a new global and analytical representation of the F2-layer profiles which is found to be helpful for specific ionospheric situations

COSPAR Business

The COSPAR Panel on Planetary Protection met in Closed Session on 9 April 2021 to discuss matters concerning lunar exploration

COSPAR Policy on Planetary Protection

Preamble: Noting that COSPAR has concerned itself with questions of biological contamination and spaceflight since its very inception, and noting that Article IX of the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (also known as the UN Outer Space Treaty of 1967) states that [1]: “States Parties to the Treaty shall pursue studies of outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, and conduct exploration of them so as to avoid their harmful contamination and also adverse changes in the environment of the Earth resulting from the introduction of extraterrestrial matter, and where necessary, shall adopt appropriate measures for this purpose.” therefore, COSPAR maintains and promulgates this policy on planetary protection for the reference of spacefaring nations, both as an international standard on procedures to avoid organic-constituent and biological contamination in space exploration, and to provide accepted guidelines in this area to guide compliance with the wording of the UN Outer Space Treaty and other relevant international agreements

On Informations Obtainable From Digital Ionograms and Their Corresponding Real-height Profiles

A set of more than 800 hourly ionograms recorded at Millstone Hill during July 89 and November 90 and inverted at the University of Massachusetts Lowell is the source of this study. This set contains the virtual and real-height profiles and the main classical ionospheric parameters. It is used in order to test the precision of different procedures leading to hmF2 the height of the maximum concentration in the F2 region, and also to establish the possibility of representing the real-height profile of the F2 region by a suitable generalized Chapman function

The COSPAR Panel on Planetary Protection Role, Structure and Activities

International audienc

Mars exploration and planetary protection - what do we need to know to avoid an unwanted contamination?

Planetary protection is an international effort governed by the UN Outer Space Treaty with two aims: (i) to secure the ongoing and future scientific exploration of planets and moons of astrobiological interest by avoiding their contamination with terrestrial organisms and organic molecules and (ii) to protect the Earth-Moon system from potential harmful effects of extraterrestrial material carried by spacecraft returning from interplanetary missions. Committee on Space Research's (COSPAR) Planetary Protection Policy has defined different planetary protection categories depending on the target body and type of mission. Mars is of high astrobiological interest. Mars lander missions fall into category IV with subcategories depending on whether the mission incorporates life detection instruments and depending on the chosen landing site. In view of the present knowledge about the environmental conditions on Mars and about the limits of microbial life on Earth the current planetary protection requirements for Mars were assessed thereby taking the biocidal effects of the martian environment, the stability of water on the surface of Mars and the aeolian transport of particles into account. Several knowledge gaps have been identified that need to be addressed before any changes can be made to the existing planetary protection policy. These gaps must be filled through further research and investigation in order to justify any modifications to the current requirements