As humanity travels back to the Moon in the next few years and potentially Mars in the next decade, how much of a role should planetary protection play regarding the safeguarding of these worlds? This is what a recent study published in Space Policy hopes to address as a team of international researchers discuss prioritizing planetary protection and sustainability could not only aid in space exploration but also sustainability on Earth, as well.
For the study, the researchers propose the expansion of current planetary protection policies to help safeguard against security, orbital debris, and crowding, as current policies only focus on preventing biological contamination from human activities. While biological contamination might not be a concern on the Moon given it lacks the necessary conditions to support life, the planet Mars is hypothesized to have once possessed microbial life deep in its ancient past and could potentially be hosting life beneath its surface.
“Sustainability must become a core principle of human space exploration,” said Dr. Dimitra Atri, who is an investigator in the Center for Astrophysics and Space Science at NYU Abu Dhabi and lead author of the study. “Just as we view climate change as the great challenge facing our terrestrial human society, the space community should begin to address space sustainability with the same urgency.”
This study comes as NASA prepares to land the first woman and person of color on the lunar surface in the next few years with the agency’s Artemis program, along with having ambitions to land humans on Mars someday through the agency’s Moon to Mars Architecture. Additionally, an increasing number of nations are sending spacecraft to the Moon and beyond in hopes of finding life or preparing to land their astronauts on the Moon or Mars, as well.
Dr. Atri said, “The rules and procedures implemented now will govern the next generation of space exploration -- rules that create a basis for clean and safe space exploration that will not only be productive and enforceable for years to come but are also stronger and more specific in their requirements and enforceability.”
What role will planetary protection and sustainability have in space exploration in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Sources: Space Policy, EurekAlert!, NASA
Featured Image: Artist rendition of astronauts on the Moon during the Artemis missions. (Credit: NASA)