NASA must update its rules on how to keep the solar system clean, according to a report

For 50 years, NASA has followed a stringent set of guidelines to avoid contamination from other worlds while exploring the solar system – but it may be time for these guidelines to be updated. This is according to a new report from the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, which has done a thorough review of NASA's policies to limit interplanetary contamination. The organization says that NASA's much more complex space missions and a rapidly expanding private space industry require new rules and a better implementation process.

This concept of preventing biological contamination of the solar system is known as the planetary. protection. The goal is to limit the amount of microbes we send to other planets, so that we can study these worlds in their natural environment. Also, if we find life out of the earth, we will know that we have not put it there ourselves. However, planetary protection is not just about protecting other planets. The policy also aims to prevent NASA or other space agencies from bringing unplanned foreign bugs to Earth that could cause an unpleasant and unstoppable pandemic. So, whether you're sending a spaceship to another world or bringing rocks from a distant moon, you must adhere to established planetary protection guidelines.

The legal basis for global protection stems from a document dating back more than 50 years, known as the Treaty on outer space, which has been ratified by 105 countries, including the United States.However, the treaty is rather vague on the details.He only says that nations must avoid the "dangerous contamination" of the Space and prevent "adverse changes in the Earth's environment resulting from the introduction of extraterrestrial matter."

As for the specific ways to prevent contamination – such as methods to clean up the germs of spacecraft – NASA tries to adhere to a set of guidelines established by an international organization called COSPAR, or the Committee on Space Research, which publishes detailed rules on how to clean the spaceships and the type of processes that vehicles must cross depending on where they go in the solar system. NASA has its own small office, headed by a planetary protection officer, who ensures that the space agency respects COSPAR guidelines. However, the COSPAR rules are not legally binding, so NASA does not have to follow them.

Image: NASA

The authors of the report of the National Academies of Science indicate that these planetary protection procedures worked well during the last half of the century. century, but times change. For its part, NASA is about to undertake more complex space missions than ever before. It is planned to send a spacecraft to the Europa moon of Jupiter to fly through the possible plumes of water to look for signs of life. And the space agency sends a new mobile to Mars in 2020 to unearth samples that could be returned to Earth one day for study. "NASA is undertaking much more complex science missions than in the past, and at the same time, it has to work with cost restrictions and time constraints," Scott Hubbard, a professor of aeronautics at Stanford, said. one of the main authors of the report, tells La Verge . "These missions raise all kinds of possible contamination problems, both by going there and bringing back samples."

Meanwhile, NASA has long been talking about sending humans to the red planet . The crews would bring a lot of microbes to Mars, and NASA would need an entirely new framework for what is considered acceptable contamination when that happens.

Moreover, the space agency is not the only one wanting to send people to Mars either. The private company SpaceX is also focused on starting its own colony of Mars, and it is getting closer to carrying out such a monumental task. The company launched a Tesla roadster near the orbit of Mars earlier this year, and SpaceX's CEO says his next big rocket, the BFR, will be ready for the first tests here. ;next year. This is another reason why the authors say that we need updated guidelines: the private space industry is becoming more capable and more ambitious in its exploration of the solar system. As more and more players emerge on the ground, we will need a way to make sure everyone follows the same rules. "We have a whole new set of players like SpaceX," says Hubbard. "We have entrepreneurs able to reach Mars, but how are you going to supervise them?"

All of these factors explain why Hubbard and his co-authors say that it's time for NASA to develop a new strategic plan for global protection. . First and foremost, NASA needs to do a more rigorous job of writing all of its planetary requirements and implementing these policies equally. In this way, there is no confusion about what is required, which can potentially prevent disagreements between the mission's officials and the agency's global protection officer

19659015] The authors say that NASA also needs more guidance from external experts, such as microbiologists and geneticists, on types of resilient and problematic microbes for interplanetary spacecraft. NASA must also invest more in technology and research on cost-effective vehicle cleaning, the report said. In addition, the report says NASA should create a long-term roadmap of all upcoming missions and what protocols are needed for each trip well in advance. "One of the problems we have noted is that these planetary protection requirements tend not to be developed until the mission is already started," Hubbard says.

The final recommendation concerns equality: these guidelines apply equally to NASA missions and private sector missions. This is not obvious because the US government will have to intervene. "We are very clear: whatever the new strategic plan for global protection developed for NASA, it must be applied equally to private companies, but you need legislation to do that. "Whatever the new strategic plan for global protection developed for NASA, it must be applied in the same way to private companies."