Updates in NASA Policy and Practice in Planetary Protection

NASA is updating its planetary protection policy and implementation approaches as part of a broader set of changes within the Agency. These updates are to allow the planetary protection discipline to be more technologically agile in response to advances in scientific understanding of solar system targets, upcoming mission opportunities for robotic and crewed exploration including sample return, and the emerging capability of non-governmental organizations to plan and execute missions to Earth's Moon and Mars. The updated NASA Procedural Requirements document “Planetary Protection Provisions for Robotic Extraterrestrial Missions” (NPR8715.24) was released in 2021. Repositioning planetary protection within NASA Program and Project management structures, this document also introduces additional options for demonstrating planetary protection compliance, expands on key roles and responsibilities for both programmatic organizations and the Office of Safety and Mission Assurance, updates the mission categorization process, and streamlines planetary protection documentation approval and scheduling within the Project. Even more recently, NASA has released a new technical standard “Implementing Planetary Protection Requirements for Space Flight” (NASA-STD-8719.27) which includes detailed technical requirements to address inadvertent impact avoidance objectives, biological contamination control and management, organic contamination, end of mission disposal, and restricted Earth-return containment assurance and sample safety assessment. This presentation will describe the current NASA planetary protection policy and its alignment with the current Committee on Space Research (COSP AR) consensus international planetary protection policy. NASA's plans for updating the supporting “Handbook for Implementing Planetary Protection Technical Requirements” and future policies for addressing planetary protection of crewed missions will also be discussed.