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Zorzano MP, Olsson-Francis K, Doran PT, Rettberg P, Coustenis A, Ilyin V, Raulin F, Shehhi OA, Groen F, Grasset O, Nakamura A, Ballesteros OP, Sinibaldi S, Suzuki Y, Kumar P, Kminek G, Hedman N, Fujimoto M, Zaitsev M, Hayes A, Peng J, Ammannito E, Mustin C, Xu K. The COSPAR planetary protection requirements for space missions to Venus. LIFE SCIENCES IN SPACE RESEARCH 2023; 37:18-24. [PMID: 37087175 DOI: 10.1016/j.lssr.2023.02.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2022] [Revised: 01/30/2023] [Accepted: 02/01/2023] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
The Committee on Space Research's (COSPAR) Planetary Protection Policy states that all types of missions to Venus are classified as Category II, as the planet has significant research interest relative to the processes of chemical evolution and the origin of life, but there is only a remote chance that terrestrial contamination can proliferate and compromise future investigations. "Remote chance" essentially implies the absence of environments where terrestrial organisms could survive and replicate. Hence, Category II missions only require simplified planetary protection documentation, including a planetary protection plan that outlines the intended or potential impact targets, brief Pre- and Post-launch analyses detailing impact strategies, and a Post-encounter and End-of-Mission Report. These requirements were applied in previous missions and are foreseen for the numerous new international missions planned for the exploration of Venus, which include NASA's VERITAS and DAVINCI missions, and ESA's EnVision mission. There are also several proposed missions including India's Shukrayaan-1, and Russia's Venera-D. These multiple plans for spacecraft coincide with a recent interest within the scientific community regarding the cloud layers of Venus, which have been suggested by some to be habitable environments. The proposed, privately funded, MIT/Rocket Lab Venus Life Finder mission is specifically designed to assess the habitability of the Venusian clouds and to search for signs of life. It includes up to three atmospheric probes, the first one targeting a launch in 2023. The COSPAR Panel on Planetary Protection evaluated scientific data that underpins the planetary protection requirements for Venus and the implications of this on the current policy. The Panel has done a thorough review of the current knowledge of the planet's conditions prevailing in the clouds. Based on the existing literature, we conclude that the environmental conditions within the Venusian clouds are orders of magnitude drier and more acidic than the tolerated survival limits of any known terrestrial extremophile organism. Because of this future orbital, landed or entry probe missions to Venus do not require extra planetary protection measures. This recommendation may be revised in the future if new observations or reanalysis of past data show any significant increment, of orders of magnitude, in the water content and the pH of the cloud layer.
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Affiliation(s)
- María Paz Zorzano
- Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), CSIC-INTA, Carretera de Ajalvir km 4, 28850, Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid, Spain.
| | - Karen Olsson-Francis
- AstrobiologyOU, Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
| | - Peter T Doran
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA
| | - Petra Rettberg
- Research Group Astrobiology, Institute of Aerospace Medicine, DLR, Koeln, Germany
| | - Athena Coustenis
- LESIA, Paris Observatory, CNRS, PSL Univ., 92195, Meudon Cedex, France
| | - Vyacheslav Ilyin
- Institute for Biomedical Problems, 123007, Khoroshevskoye shosse 76a, Moscow, Russia
| | - Francois Raulin
- Univ Paris Est Créteil and Université Paris Cité, CNRS, LISA, F-94010, Créteil, France
| | | | - Frank Groen
- NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC, 20546, USA
| | - Olivier Grasset
- Nantes Université, Univ Angers, Le Mans Université, CNRS, UMR 6112, Laboratoire de Planétologie et Géosciences, F-44000, Nantes, France
| | - Akiko Nakamura
- Department of Planetology, Kobe University, 657-8501, Kobe, Japan
| | - Olga Prieto Ballesteros
- Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), CSIC-INTA, Carretera de Ajalvir km 4, 28850, Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid, Spain
| | - Silvio Sinibaldi
- Planetary Protection Officer, Independent Safety Office (TEC-QI), European Space Agency (ESA) - ESTEC, Keplerlaan 1, 2201, AZ, Noordwijk, the Netherlands
| | - Yohey Suzuki
- Department of Earth and Planetary Science, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan
| | | | - Gerhard Kminek
- European Space Agency (ESA) - ESTEC, Keplerlaan 1, 2201, AZ, Noordwijk, the Netherlands
| | - Niklas Hedman
- Committee, Policy and Legal Affairs Section, Office for Outer Space Affairs, United Nations Office at Vienna, Austria
| | - Masaki Fujimoto
- Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), Kanagawa, Japan
| | - Maxim Zaitsev
- Planetary Physics Dept., Space Research Inst. of Russian Acad. of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
| | - Alex Hayes
- Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853-6801, USA
| | - Jing Peng
- China National Space Administration, Beijing, China
| | | | | | - Kanyan Xu
- Laboratory of Space Microbiology, Shenzhou Space Biotechnology Group, Chinese Academy of Space Technology, Beijing, China
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