Planetary Protection

[Christopher K.]

NASA practices the policy of planetary protection, meaning that it as much as possible lowers the chance of any Earth microbes being present in a robotic mission to other bodies of the Solar System. The process of removing or eradicating those microbes from a craft's components is called microbial reduction.

Missions to Mercury, the Moon and the Sun do not fall under planetary protection guidelines. However, Jovian satellites (Europa, Ganymede and Callisto) and Saturnian satellites (Titan and Enceladus) are notable sites of potentially valuable astrobiology studies.

More information:
http://planetaryprotection.nasa.gov/about/

[Christopher K.]

"Astrobiology in the Field" is a half-hour program describing the different manners the relatively new field is addressed in the American Space Program. It can be found on NASA-TV...
Thursday 2 April, 10:30am and 5pm
Sunday 5 April, 1am and 1:30pm
All times are Central Daylight.