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[SPACE EXPLORATION, PLANETARY PROTECTION, JPL/CIT]
DAVIES, Richard W. ; COMUNTZIS, Marcus G. (Authors)
'THE STERILIZATION OF SPACE VEHICLES TO PREVENT EXTRATERRESTRIAL BIOLOGICAL CONTAMINATION'[National Aeronautical and Space Administration Contract No. NASw-6] (External Publication 698) (August 31, 1959)
Pasadena. Jet Propulsion Laboratory / California Institute of Technology. 1959. 16 pp. Mimeographed. Plastic, spiral bound in stiff printed wraps with cutout title window. Minor wear to edges as shown. Contents clean. Overall, very good.
An obviously RARE and important original paper in the history of planetary protection as the concept had only been conceived 2.5 years prior and outlined about a year prior to the authorship of this work.
Original artifacts on this subject of this era scarcely appear in commerce.
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Planetaryprotection is a guiding principle in the design of an interplanetary mission,aiming to prevent biological contamination of both the target celestial bodyand the Earth in the case of sample-return missions. Planetary protectionreflects both the unknown nature of the space environment and the desire of thescientific community to preserve the pristine nature of celestial bodies untilthey can be studied in detail.
Thereare two types of interplanetary contamination. Forward contamination is thetransfer of viable organisms from Earth to another celestial body. Backcontamination is the transfer of extraterrestrial organisms, if they exist,back to the Earth's biosphere.
Thepotential problem of lunar and planetary contamination was first raised at theInternational Astronautical Federation VIIth Congress in Rome in 1956.
In1958 the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) passed a resolution stating,“The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America urges thatscientists plan lunar and planetary studies with great care and deep concern sothat initial operations do not compromise and make impossible forever aftercritical scientific experiments.” This led to creation of the ad hoc Committeeon Contamination by Extraterrestrial Exploration (CETEX), which met for a yearand recommended that interplanetary spacecraft be sterilized, and stated, “Theneed for sterilization is only temporary. Mars and possibly Venus need toremain uncontaminated only until study by manned ships becomes possible”.
In1959, planetary protection was transferred to the newly formed Committee onSpace Research (COSPAR). COSPAR in 1964 issued Resolution 26 affirming that:
thesearch for extraterrestrial life is an important objective of space research,that the planet of Mars may offer the only feasible opportunity to conduct thissearch during the foreseeable future, that contamination of this planet wouldmake such a search far more difficult and possibly even prevent for all time anunequivocal result, that all practical steps should be taken to ensure thatMars be not biologically contaminated until such time as this search has beensatisfactorily carried out, and that cooperation in proper scheduling ofexperiments and use of adequate spacecraft sterilization techniques is requiredon the part of all deep space probe launching authorities to avoid suchcontamination.
Signatoriesof the Outer Space Treaty - includes all current and aspiring space faringnation states. By signing the treaty, these nation states have all committedthemselves to planetary protection.
In1967, the US, USSR, and UK ratified the United Nations Outer Space Treaty. Thelegal basis for planetary protection lies in Article IX of this treaty:
"ArticleIX: ... States Parties to the Treaty shall pursue studies of outer space,including the Moon and other celestial bodies, and conduct exploration of themso as to avoid their harmful contamination and also adverse changes in theenvironment of the Earth resulting from the introduction of extraterrestrialmatter and, where necessary, shall adopt appropriate measures for this purpose...
Thistreaty has since been signed and ratified by 104 nation-states. Another 24 havesigned but not ratified. All the current space-faring nation-states, along withall current aspiring space-faring nation-states, have both signed and ratifiedthe treaty.
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