[NASA] This handbook provides guidance to mission providers and Planetary Protection (PP) practitioners on implementing PP measures for both robotic and crewed space missions. This handbook represents major updates to PP practices since a previously drafted handbook from 2010.
In 2017, NASA reorganized the Office of Planetary Protection (OPP) from the Science Mission Directorate (SMD) to a Technical Authority (TA) within the Office of Safety and Mission Assurance (OSMA). With this organizational change came a complete overhaul of NASA’s PP policy and technical standards.
This handbook reflects the latest NASA PP policy updates in NPR 8715.24, Planetary Protection Provisions for Robotic Extraterrestrial Missions and technical requirements of NASA-STD-8719.27, Implementing Planetary Protection Requirements for Space Flight.
This handbook is a companion document to the NPR and technical standard and provides guidance, best practices, background information, and advice for practitioners to consider when implementing PP on NASA missions and NASA-partnered missions. The guidance provided in this handbook covers a wide range of topics on the implementation of PP for different kinds of missions.
Table 1 helps PP practitioners identify which parts of the document may be most applicable to their mission and role in the mission. Chapter 2.0.0 PP Mission Categorization details mission categorization.
1.1.0 Background
PP has been a discipline of interest at NASA ever since the sterilization of space probes was first considered in 1959 to avoid planetary contamination during exploration.1 The importance of PP grew with the focus of the first lunar landing missions, and NASA established the Planetary Quarantine Office in 1963.2
The Planetary Quarantine Office would remain throughout the Apollo Missions until the focus changed to the broader term of “planetary protection” in the 1980s as NASA focused on planetary exploration.3 A comprehensive history of PP at NASA is detailed in NASA-SP-2011-4234, When Biospheres Collide: A History of NASA’s Planetary Protection Programs.4
The PP discipline is grounded in the Outer Space Treaty (OST) of 1967, which contains two key articles that form the foundation for PP. Article VI addresses the international responsibility that States Parties to the Treaty have for national activities in outer space, whether those activities are carried out by Governmental agencies or non-Governmental entities, and ensuring they conform with the provisions of the OST.
For this reason, NASA’s PP policy and technical standard apply to both NASA missions and NASA-partnered missions. Article IX of the OST focuses on controlling the risk of harmful contamination during exploration and research of outer space and avoiding adverse effects to the Earth from the introduction of extraterrestrial matter from other solar system bodies.
It should be noted that the OST does not explicitly define “harmful contamination.” The interpretation of “harmful contamination” changes as exploration technology evolves and scientific studies provide more knowledge. This flexibility is one reason why the OST has stood the test of time and remained relevant for more than 50 years.
The Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) was established in 1958 to coordinate worldwide space research. COSPAR is made up of an interdisciplinary scientific committee of national scientific organizations and international scientific unions and emphasizes the exchange of ideas, information, and opinions.
The COSPAR Panel on Planetary Protection (PPP) forms international consensus guidelines for PP during solar system exploration based on current scientific knowledge. It also provides a forum for spacefaring nations without PP expertise to obtain advice on OST compliance. NASA supports and participates in the COSPAR process of developing new guidelines and provides input to the committee.
However, COSPAR’s focus is on the scientific exploration of space and purposefully does not define specific practices for PP implementation by missions, as that is the role of each of the States Parties to the OST.
For this reason, NASA’s PP policy and technical standard are informed by COSPAR policy, but additionally provide the detailed requirements for PP implementation by NASA missions and NASA-partnered missions to demonstrate compliance with the OST.
1 Meltzer, Michael. 2012. When Biospheres Collide: A History of NASA’s Planetary Protection Programs. Government Printing Office.
2 Ibid, 55.
3 Rummel, John D. 2019. “From Planetary Quarantine to Planetary Protection: A NASA and International Story.” Astrobiology 19 (4): 624–27.
4 See footnote 1.
Astrobiology,
