Public communication strategy for NASA’s planetary protection program: Expanding the dialogue

The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Planetary Protection Office, in the Science Mission Directorate, has a long-term initiative under way in communication research and planning. The possibility of extraterrestrial life and efforts to search for evidence of it is one of NASA’s key missions and a subject of great interest to the public. Planetary protection plays a key role in the search for signs of life elsewhere, and NASA’s Planetary Protection Office has long recognized the importance of communications in accomplishing its goals and objectives. With solar system exploration missions advancing into the era of sample return and with the science of astrobiology changing assumptions about the nature and boundaries of life, the NASA Planetary Protection Office is expanding its communication research efforts. For the past decade, communication research sponsored by the NASA planetary protection program has focused on reaching members of the science community and addressing legal and ethical concerns. In 2003, the program broadened its communication research efforts, initiating the development of a communication strategy based on an interactive model and intended to address the needs of a broad range of external audiences. The NASA Planetary Protection Office aims to ensure that its scientific, bureaucratic, and other constituencies are fully informed about planetary protection policies and procedures and that scientists and officials involved in planetary protection are prepared to communicate with a variety of public audiences about issues relating to planetary protection. This paper describes NASA’s ongoing planetary protection communication research, including development of a communication strategy and a risk communication plan.