Planetary Protection Rough Draft
ESS 102
Jacob Berrigan
For my Science fiction paper I will write about a routine mission to mars in the year 2040 to excavate mars because of the discovery of a vein of rare metals by an American mining company. In an effort to cut costs the company neglected to complete the abiotic protection procedures mandated by the government after returning to earth. The ship carries home a pathogen of which the human race has never seen. A sizeable percent of the earths population is killed, the remnants of society come together in an effort to rebuild and realize the dangers of capital when reaching towards scientific goals.
Earth is the only known planet to sustain life in our reality. Our unique planet does …show more content…
NASA has a surprisingly diverse series of missions and thus must undergo different levels of decontamination (4). Firstly, categories of planets are broken down into 5 categories relating to the level of likelihood of finding exogenous life. This scale ranges from, “Bodies not of direct interest for understanding the process of chemical evolution or the origin of life” (4) to “Earth-return missions from bodies deemed by scientific opinion to be of significant interest to the process of chemical evolution and/or the origin of life” (4). The likelihood of exogenous life to exist is based around a number of factors. In particular, the atmospheric composition of the planet, the presence of water, closeness to a star, and surface level geochemistry (4). This classification series enables NASA to distinguish between planets and other celestial …show more content…
Potential planetary targets that have potential to be explored by NASA with manned or robotic missions have been categorized according to this system. Those of the least concern with planetary protection measures include asteroids and the moon of Jupiter Io (4). This is because they have been deemed by NASA as being not important for determining the chemical and evolutionary origins of life. The second class of planets includes two subcategories. Those planets that are not icy these include Neptune, Saturn, Uranus, Jupiter Venus and various others (4). These planets are more likely to contain planetary life and so more significant precautions must be taken. The second part of this category are the icy moons, these merit the same protections, these planets include Titan, Charon and others (4). The fifth category is the most relevant to scientist’s research that are vital for the study of extraterrestrial life including Mars and Europa (4). These planets also have restricted earth return as they could potentially carrying life from other worlds. This classification system creates a vital algorithm by which NASA can determine how to prepare shuttles for launch and how to handle their
ESS 102
Jacob Berrigan
For my Science fiction paper I will write about a routine mission to mars in the year 2040 to excavate mars because of the discovery of a vein of rare metals by an American mining company. In an effort to cut costs the company neglected to complete the abiotic protection procedures mandated by the government after returning to earth. The ship carries home a pathogen of which the human race has never seen. A sizeable percent of the earths population is killed, the remnants of society come together in an effort to rebuild and realize the dangers of capital when reaching towards scientific goals.
Earth is the only known planet to sustain life in our reality. Our unique planet does …show more content…
NASA has a surprisingly diverse series of missions and thus must undergo different levels of decontamination (4). Firstly, categories of planets are broken down into 5 categories relating to the level of likelihood of finding exogenous life. This scale ranges from, “Bodies not of direct interest for understanding the process of chemical evolution or the origin of life” (4) to “Earth-return missions from bodies deemed by scientific opinion to be of significant interest to the process of chemical evolution and/or the origin of life” (4). The likelihood of exogenous life to exist is based around a number of factors. In particular, the atmospheric composition of the planet, the presence of water, closeness to a star, and surface level geochemistry (4). This classification series enables NASA to distinguish between planets and other celestial …show more content…
Potential planetary targets that have potential to be explored by NASA with manned or robotic missions have been categorized according to this system. Those of the least concern with planetary protection measures include asteroids and the moon of Jupiter Io (4). This is because they have been deemed by NASA as being not important for determining the chemical and evolutionary origins of life. The second class of planets includes two subcategories. Those planets that are not icy these include Neptune, Saturn, Uranus, Jupiter Venus and various others (4). These planets are more likely to contain planetary life and so more significant precautions must be taken. The second part of this category are the icy moons, these merit the same protections, these planets include Titan, Charon and others (4). The fifth category is the most relevant to scientist’s research that are vital for the study of extraterrestrial life including Mars and Europa (4). These planets also have restricted earth return as they could potentially carrying life from other worlds. This classification system creates a vital algorithm by which NASA can determine how to prepare shuttles for launch and how to handle their