NASA has asked the Seti Institute to ensure that extraterrestrial life does not pollute Earth.
The Seti, which means “search for extraterrestrial intelligence”, focuses mainly on discovering life in other parts of the universe. But the new contract asks him to make sure it doesn’t spread anywhere else, tasked with avoiding contamination of Earth or other planets during space missions.
In addition to working with NASA to provide training, develop guidelines and help promote information to the public about their efforts, the Seti Institute “will validate [the] biological cleaning in flight projects “to ensure that any biological contamination from missions to other bodies does not adversely affect Earth.
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The contract covers numerous space exploration missions, including the Mars 2020 and Europa Clipper missions, and preparations for NASA’s Mars Sample Return mission.
The missions to Mars include plans to fly a helicopter on the Red Planet to demonstrate that powered flight would be possible in another world.
The Europa Clipper mission, meanwhile, is an attempt to send probes to a Jupiter moon.
The project is expected to launch sometime in this decade and aims to understand whether Europe could support biological life.
The moon has an ocean below the surface and could generate heat from its core, both conditions that would encourage the flourishing of life.
The contract also covers future human space flights under NASA’s Artemis program, which is intended to send the first woman to the moon by 2024, as well as programs for a lunar outpost.
“By returning to the Moon, searching for evidence of past or present life on Mars, and continuing our exploration and discovery missions in the solar system, planetary protection becomes an increasingly important component of mission planning and execution.” Bill Diamond, president and CEO of the Seti Institute, said in a statement.
“We are proud to be partners with NASA for this mission-critical function, protecting Earth from backward contamination and helping to ensure that the life we can find on other worlds does not come from ours.”
The problem of foreign pollutants is serious. Last year, it was reported that a mistake made during the Apollo 11 moon landing could have resulted in the transportation of lunar germs from the moon back to Earth.
We have also been responsible for contaminating other bodies, giving life to the Moon when an Israeli spacecraft crashed and spilled tardigrades on the surface of the satellite.
The tardigrades are microscopic animals that can survive extreme conditions including extreme temperatures, extreme pressures (highs and lows), air deprivation, radiation, dehydration, and hunger.
“The implementation of effective and consistent planetary protection standards is more important than ever, as we increasingly venture into space, not only in missions governed by space agencies, but with projects executed in conjunction with the commercial sector, and even totally, “says Nasa.
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