Planetary protection and humans on Mars: NASA/ESA workshop results

Planetary protection requirements for future human missions to Mars will strongly influence mission and spacecraft designs, particularly those related to the operation of advanced life support systems (ALS), extravehicular activity (EVA), laboratory and in situ sampling operations, and associated environmental monitoring and control systems. In order to initiate communication, understanding and working relations among the ALS, EVA, and planetary protection communities in NASA and ESA, a workshop was held (May 2005; ESA/ESTEC; Nordwijk, The Netherlands) to focus on mission-specific planetary protection issues associated with future human missions to Mars. The “Mars Planetary Protection and Human Systems Research and Technology Joint NASA/ESA Workshop” considered the range of knowledge and information necessary to establish planetary protection requirements with respect to ALS and EVA systems, including the identification of potential contaminants, contamination pathways, and potential off-nominal events typical of such systems and of space exploration. The top-level workshop goal was to determine how compliance with planetary protection requirements should be implemented before, during, and after human Mars missions, and what standards of contamination control should apply to human explorers. Workshop discussions considered operations and technology concerns, science operations, backward contamination prevention requirements, and the protection of both the human habitat on Mars and the Earth upon crew return. A list of future research and development needs were also identified for ALS, EVA and Mars robotic missions, including specific precursor mission information necessary to understand and prepare for human support systems and science operations on long duration Mars missions. This paper summarizes the findings and recommendations of the workshop including an overall approach to contamination control, waste and consumable management, and off-nominal events, as well as the research and development necessary to cope with planetary protection requirements during future human missions to Mars.