Mathematics – Logic
Scientific paper
May 2002
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002agusm.p51a..09r&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting 2002, abstract #P51A-09
Mathematics
Logic
5494 Instruments And Techniques, 6225 Mars, 1060 Planetary Geochemistry (5405, 5410, 5704, 5709, 6005, 6008)
Scientific paper
A sample return mission from Mars is being planned in the context of an emerging wave of new data about Mars. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that life could occur somewhere within the geosphere of that planet, as well as with the hypothesis that some Earth organisms alive today could find habitable niches in the martian subsurface, at least. As such, NASA's Mars Exploration Program is being planned to avoid the biological contamination of Mars, and with an understanding that NASA will follow the US National Research Council's recommendations that samples returned from Mars should be contained until "rigorous analyses determine that the materials do not contain a biological hazard." With this planning in mind, NASA, with the help of other US and international participants, has been working to develop a protocol for sample analysis: a list of comprehensive tests, and their sequential order, that will be performed to fulfill the NRC recommendation. It is the intent of the protocol that it will achieve the testing required to meet the criteria to release samples for analysis outside of an initial containment facility. Because the amount of sample to be returned is thought to be small (500-1000 grams) this protocol hopes to maximize the utility of the tests that will be used in assessing the potential hazard. These tests include physical and chemical characterization of the sample to support biohazard testing, the biohazard testing itself (which may involve molecular- and organism-based testing), and focused life-detection analyses at the molecular level. The protocol is being developed as a living draft, with the expectation that a final protocol will only be shaped at the time of the actual development and testing of a Mars sample receiving facility and the sample-return mission itself.
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