Planetary Protection

Preorder now at: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-value-of-science-in-space-exploration-9780190069063

The Value of Science in Space Exploration provides a rigorous assessment of the value of scientific knowledge and understanding in the context of contemporary space exploration. It argues that traditional spaceflight rationales are deficient, and that the strongest defense of spaceflight comes from its potential to produce intrinsically and instrumentally valuable knowledge and understanding. It engages with contemporary epistemology to articulate an account of the intrinsic value of scientific knowledge and understanding. It also parleys with recent work in science policy and social philosophy of science to characterize the instrumental value of scientific research, identifying space research as an effective generator of new knowledge and understanding.

These values found an ethical obligation to engage in scientific examination of the space environment. This obligation has important implications for major space policy discussions, including debates surrounding planetary protection policies, space resource exploitation, and human space settlement. Whereas planetary protection policies are currently employed to prevent biological contamination only of sites of interest in the search for extraterrestrial life, it contends that all sites of interest to space science ought to be protected. Meanwhile , space resource exploitation and human space settlement would result in extensive disruption or destruction of pristine space environments. The overall ethical value of these environments in the production of new knowledge and understanding is greater than their value as commercial or real commodities, and thus, exploitation and settlement of space should be avoided until the scientific community adequately understands these environments.

While proposals for settling in the space frontier have appeared in the technical literature for over 20 years, it is in the case of Mars that the ethical dimensions of space settlement have been most studied. Mars raises the questions of the rights and wrongs of the enterprise more forcefully because: (a) Mars may possess a primitive biota; and (b) it may be possible to terraform Mars and transform the entire planet into a living world. The moral questions implicit in space settlement are examined below from the standpoints of four theories of environmental ethics: anthropocentrism, zoocentrism, ecocentrism and preservationism. In the absence of extraterrestrial life, only preservationism concludes that space settlement would be immoral if it was seen to be to the benefit of terrestrial life. Even if Mars is not sterile, protection for Martian life can be argued for either on intrinsic or instrumental grounds from the standpoints of all of these theories. It is argued further that a strict preservationist ethic is untenable as it assumes that human consciousness, creativity, culture and technology stand outside nature, rather than having been a product of natural selection. If Homo sapiens is the first spacefaring species to have evolved on Earth, space settlement would not involve acting outside nature, but legitimately within our
nature.

Chemical and microbiological studies of the impact of terrestrial contamination of the lunar surface during the Apollo missions could provide valuable data to help refine future Mars surface exploration plans and planetary protection requirements for a human mission to Mars. NASA and ESA have outlined new visions for solar system exploration that will include a series of lunar robotic missions to prepare for and support a human return to the Moon, and future human exploration of Mars and other destinations. Under the Committee on Space Research’s (COSPAR’s) current planetary protection policy for the Moon, no decontamination procedures are required for outbound lunar spacecraft. Nonetheless, future in situ investigations of a variety of locations on the Moon by highly sensitive instruments designed to search for biologically derived organic compounds would help assess the contamination of the Moon by lunar spacecraft and Apollo astronauts. These studies could also provide valuable ‘ground truth’ data for Mars sample return missions and help define planetary protection requirements for future Mars bound spacecraft carrying life detection experiments.

I argue that planetary protection ethics suffers from a "life bias" in that rationales for protection are only regarded as "ethical" when they involve direct moral consideration for extraterrestrial life. Overcoming this bias involves attending to reasons for protection stemming from disciplines other than astrobiology, reasons which, I argue, are no less ethical simply because their object is not the protection of extraterrestrial life. Long-range implications for such a broadening of planetary protection are considered, including implications for interstellar exploration .

I review Mars science goals, including those associated with the study of Mars' past and present habitability, as well as those associated with understanding Mars' atmosphere and climate.  I argue that Mars settlement initiatives would be likely to frustrate attempts to satisfy many of these goals, and therefore that it would be prudent for the Mars science community to prioritize those investigations most threatened by human settlement of Mars.

What hazards might biological contamination pose to planets, comets and other celestial bodies visited by probes launched from Earth? What hazards might returning probes pose to Earth and its inhabitants? What should be considered an acceptable level of risk? What technologies, procedures and constraints should be applied? What sort of attitude has to be chosen concerning human crews, who themselves could become both contaminated victims and contaminating agents? The vast issue of planetary protection must, more than ever, spark ethical debate. Space treaty, COSPAR recommendations offer borders and context for this reflection, which has to be introduced in the actual humanist: never has been anthropocentrism so practical and concerned, in the same time, by the next generations, because of the historical character of life. At least an ethics of risk is necessary (far from the myth of zero-risk) for all the three types of contamination: other celestial bodies (forward contamination), Earth (backward contamination) and astronauts.

Even minimal or suggestive evidence for life on Mars places ethical constraints on future Mars missions. In order to conserve Mars's scientific value, the international community should tighten planetary protection protocols and ban crewed missions to the surface of Mars.

As planetary exploration advances, the likelihood of encountering suspected artifacts of astrobiological activity increases, which, it is argued, should be investigated under the auspices of proto-scientific xenoarchaeology. Considering both the unfavorable conditions under which such an investigation may be undertaken (e.g., while observing international planetary protection protocols, utilizing remote sensing techniques in exotic pressure, temperature, chemical, and gravity environments, or adhering to stringent terrestrial biological quarantine and security measures) as well as the demonstrated propensity of the social mind to romanticize or mythologize even the most benign planetary landforms, it is clear that a reactive and poorly preconceived xenoarchaeological methodology will be plagued by inaccuracies, rushed judgments, unrealized bias, misinformation, and erroneous conclusions, along with the negative socio-political impacts that accompany them. Central principles for establishing a rigorous xenoarchaeological methodology are proposed, scientific and technical difficulties are discussed, pertinent international protocols and agreements are reviewed, and sociological and historical considerations are explored.

In my presentation I will suggest how philosophy, in particular ethical theory but also philosophy of science, can be used to identify and possibly provide constructive advice regarding how to handle potential value conflicts in connection with planetary protection.
Planetary Protection, the way the term is used today, is mainly a technical term for measures taken in order to avoid contamination either of extra-terrestrial bodies (i.e. planets/moons/asteroids/etc.) (forward contamination) or of our own earth (back or backward contamination). I will here concentrate on the former. The motivation behind present guidelines for planetary protection takes the form of a desire among astrobiologists to study a pristine environment. One want to make sure that any extra-terrestrial life will not be strongly influence, or even destroyed, by any invasive earth life before one manages to study it properly. This means the guidelines for planetary protection aim to keep the body in question free from contamination by earth organisms for the duration of the study. This aim can be questioned from different vantage points. If extra-terrestrial life has moral status in their own right or value other than as study objects, the guidelines might have to be stronger. If not just science but also commercial initiatives have an interest in the body in question, it might be argued that the need to protect the indigenous life needs to be balanced against the potential commercial value of the body. Taken together, the intersection of science goals, commercial interests and societal concerns regarding planetary protection provide some philosophically very interesting examples of ethical problems concerning the relation between science and other interests.

Atmospheric pressure glow-discharge (APGD) plasmas have been proposed for sterilizing spacecraft surfaces prior to launch. The advantages of APGD plasmas for the sterilization of spacecraft surfaces include low temperatures at treatment sites, rapid inactivation kinetics of exposed microbial cells, physical degradation and removal of microbial cells, physical removal of organic biosignature molecules, and short exposure times for the materials. However, few studies have tested APGD plasmas on spacecraft materials for their effectiveness in both sterilizing surfaces and removal of microbial cells or spores. A helium (He)+oxygen (O2) APGD plasma was used to expose six spacecraft materials (aluminum 6061, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), polycarbonate, Saf-T-Vu, Rastex, and Herculite 20) doped with spores of the common spacecraft contaminant, Bacillus subtilis, for periods of time up to 6 min. Results indicated that greater than six orders of magnitude reductions in viability were obser...

Slide 1 Title/Introduction
This is NGEN AST Cave Research (Quintana Roo, Mexico)
Hello everyone, my name is Stephen Daire, I am a Geographic Information Scientist & Technologist and an Underwater Evolutionary Anthropologist

Slide 2
I collaborate with Scouts, IIAS, 2G, NJSM, FUBAR, QRSS, IPA, and other groups on social & scientific developments promoting education, surveying, geoheritage awareness, & dive safety.
I aim to begin a PhD research fellowship in evolutionary anthropology, human factors, ocean engineering, quantum information, or astrobiology by 2020.
I enjoy hiking, producing fractal art, playing saxophone, harmonica, & bass.
Underwater caves provide unique research data & providing grounds to understand our planet through analogies
Between halocline (salt-fresh water mixing) & Polar mesospheric clouds (PMCs) effects on AST.
Subaquatic PSTAR is critical to HEDS AST for L2M success.
Science has observed:
1) 13.8 billion years Cosmic Background Radiation
2) 95% of Earth’s oceans remain unexplored
3) 99% of Earth’s caves remain unexplored.
4) 100% of extraplanetary caves remain unexplored.

Slide 3
We know too little about our own planet, we need to play catch up on the learning curve with immediate field research.
Global karst aquifers form 3D drainage systems underground as water dissolves minerals & stores in fractures.
The Yucatan Peninsula is a labyrinth of caves, to survey it all will take more than several human lifetimes of work & requires robotic assistance.
Researching & modeling the Chicxulub karst aquifer in situ informs climate resilience, promotes ‘Mothership’ Earth Systems Management, and promotes HEDS.
Regional remote sensing in terrestrial, karst, submarine, and aerial geophysical environmental analysis provided detailed reference for potential EVA discoveries on the Moon and Mars.
NGEN ULS PSTAR surveys on Earth provide references for field studies into conditions from impacts on the Moon and Mars.
This assists planning to locate natural resource, plan research features of interest, and improve HEDS and Earth's future.
GIST and PSTAR promotes procedures & new perspectives in environment-human-machine interactions for future AST R&D.

Slide 4
Improving AST for long-term human development and exploration of the solar system through utilitarian extravehicular activities (EVAs).
Survey missions have paved the way for future missions, next generation systems will go longer, farther, and deeper than their ancestors and may soon locate life in the growing presence of water on the red planet.
Diving with diver propulsion vehicles reduces work fatigue to reach sites, setting up the ULS takes time & patience,  as surface teams are out of communication.
ULS modeling is equivalent to localizing the exact point of sound origin on a single vibrating string, as all the stings of an orchestra simultaneously play.
Divers movements, chemicals in the water, and the physics of the ULS itself all interact and change the environment as it is scanned.
By surveying these environments and producing digital terrain models (DTMs) new developments are forwarded in various fields of sciences.
Pause for ULS-200 set up & Start scanning
These star systems of silt have remained untouched by humankind for ten thousand years or more providing niches for evolution, geophysics, and exploration at the undefined edges of the map.

Slide 5
ULS Scan During film

Slide 6
These veins of the Earth hold clues to its patient history, current health, and future prognoses. Geophysical photoplethysmogram is a volumetric light measurements of a water filled cave cavity system flow based on changes in light detection.
New discoveries are related to unique relationships between photons (quanta of light) and the natural environment that have yet to be discovered and researched.
Measurements of pulse of the Earth via Underwater Laser Scanners (ULS) to measure the hydrological rate of flow, chemical content, and lifestyle factors effects from the Earth inside and out.

Slide 7
Paleoclimatology studies assist smart cities planning for climate change resilience by studying cycles, scales, & variables in modeling current & future probabilities & uncertainties.
My reports, cave surveys, thesis, & Handbook of LSS & Extraterrestrial Environments Chapter: Working Outside of a Space Craft or Space Habitat are producing methodology improvements in high-fidelity AST extravehicular activity (EVAs) simulations, and AST toolkit production via Protean GIST Solutions PSTAR course for IIAS - PoSSUM Academy Project OTTER.
PMCs are growing in range & altitude, are composed of micro-meteorites & their formation began to occur after the eruption of Krakatoa volcano in the 1800s providing a natural model for climate change. PMCs are obstacles to orbital & suborbital space operation on Earth & Mars.
Prepare PODER
Slide 8
Underwater speleology expedites HEDS R&D in extraplanetary city development, bioregenerative LSS, 3D printing for EVA tools, space habitat needs, & planetary protections etiquette (PPE)
Drive PODER through the crowd.

Slide 9
Special thanks to our families, friends, Uncle Bradford Designs for spatial marker consultation, to Under the Jungle Dive Shop for Mission Support, Diving Caves for Guidance, & 2G Robotics for research support with the ULS-200.

In accordance with the United Nations Outer Space Treaties [United Nations, Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, UN doc A/RES/34/68, resolution 38/68 of December 1979], currently maintained and promulgated by the Committee on Space Research [COSPAR Planetary Protection Panel, Planetary Protection Policy accepted by the COSPAR Council and Bureau, 20 October 2002, amended 24 March 2005, http://www.cosparhq.org/scistr/PPPolicy.htm], missions exploring the Solar system must meet planetary protection requirements. Planetary protection aims to protect celestial bodies from terrestrial contamination and to protect the Earth environment from potential biological contamination carried by returned samples or space systems that have been in contact with an extraterrestrial environment. From an exobiology perspective, Mars is one of the major targets, and several missions are currently in operation, in transit, or scheduled for its exploration. Some of them include payloads dedicated to the detection of life or traces of life. The next step, over the coming years, will be to return samples from Mars to Earth, with a view to increasing our knowledge in preparation for the first manned mission that is likely to take place within the next few decades. Robotic missions to Mars shall meet planetary protection specifications, currently well documented, and planetary protection programs are implemented in a very reliable manner given that experience in the field spans some 40 years. With regards to sample return missions, a set of stringent requirements has been approved by COSPAR [COSPAR Planetary Protection Panel, Planetary Protection Policy accepted by the COSPAR Council and Bureau, 20 October 2002, amended 24 March 2005, http://www.cosparhq.org/scistr/PPPolicy.htm], and technical challenges must now be overcome in order to preserve the Earth’s biosphere from any eventual contamination risk. In addition to the human dimension of the mission, sending astronauts to Mars will entail meeting all these constraints. Astronauts present huge sources of contamination for Mars and are also potential carriers of biohazardous material on their return to Earth. If they were to have the misfortune of being contaminated, they themselves would become a biohazard, and, as a consequence, in addition to the technical constraints, human and ethical considerations must also be taken into account.

Chemical and microbiological studies of the impact of terrestrial contamination of the lunar surface during the Apollo missions could provide valuable data to help refine future Mars surface exploration plans and planetary protection requirements for a human mission to Mars. NASA and ESA have outlined new visions for solar system exploration that will include a series of lunar robotic missions to prepare for and support a human return to the Moon, and future human exploration of Mars and other destinations. Under the Committee on Space Research's (COSPAR's) current planetary protection policy for the Moon, no decontamination procedures are required for outbound lunar spacecraft. Nonetheless, future in situ investigations of a variety of locations on the Moon by highly sensitive instruments designed to search for biologically derived organic compounds would help assess the contamination of the Moon by lunar spacecraft and Apollo astronauts. These studies could also provide va...

Space scientists today exemplify the projection theory of religion, only they substitute space aliens for the heavenly Father. Projections are delusions, not fact. Today we must debate whether to welcome ETI to dinner or defend our planet against their attack.

Why should we spend resources on planetary protection, and how much resources should we spend on it? These questions are not in a strict sense scientific questions, but value questions. That is, they are axiological questions. They are, however, central to all decisions regarding planetary protection and need to be considered thoroughly, carefully and transparently. The answers to these questions also need to be thoroughly motivated in a way that makes sense also to the world outside of astrobiology.

If we ever decide to start geoengineering another world, and maybe even terraform a world that is not presently habitable for humans, it is also highly probable that it will become less habitable for any indigenous life. Making sure, or at least trying to determine the probability that a potentially habitable world is in fact uninhabited will thus be an important step before we start any geo-engineering on that world, and possibly even before we let humans land there in the first place.

A high standard of planetary protection is important for astrobiology, though the risk for contamination can never be zero. It is therefore important to find a balance. If extraterrestrial life has a moral standing in its own right, it will also affect what we have to do to protect it. The questions of how far we need to go to protect extraterrestrial life will be even more acute and complicated when the time comes to use habitable worlds for commercial purposes. There will also be conflicts between those who want to set a world aside for more research and those who want to give the green light for development. I believe it is important to be proactive in relation to these issues. The aim of my project is therefore to identify, elucidate, and if possible, suggest solutions to potential conflicts between astrobiology, planetary protection, and commercial use of space.