WASHINGTON – On December 30, the White House unveiled a national strategy for planetary protection, outlining new assessments to prevent global terrestrial pollution, and vice versa.
The National Strategy for Planetary Protection, developed by the Interagency Working Group led by the National Space Council and the Science and Technology OG Policy (OSTP), is set to be updated next year to update planetary security policies, taking into account both scientific advances. As well as growing private capabilities in space exploration.
The strategy is designed to implement part of an updated national space policy published on December 9, in which OSTP, in collaboration with NASA and other agencies, calls on OSTP to “work with scientific, commercial and international partners to protect the planet and Earth from harmful biological contamination.” For proper protection. “
Scott Pace, executive secretary of the National Space Council, said in a statement that current and future missions to Mars and other places need a strategy to support a safe, sustainable and predictable Earth and space environment. “By establishing objectives for the implementation of the 2020 National Space Policy Direction on Planetary Defense, this strategy continues American leadership in scientific exploration, human research and private sector space activities.”
Planetary security strategies have three broad objectives. One is the “Hazardous Assessment and Science-Based Guide” to further reduce what is known as additional pollution, or pollution of other worlds by terrestrial life. It also assesses the role of planetary security in the government’s payload review process for private missions.
The second objective is to try to avoid “backward contamination” or possible contamination of the earth by any mythical life. The strategy directs agencies to develop various structures to assess the risks of sample return missions and other sources of backward contamination, as well as to approve frameworks for such missions and operations to safely handle returning material from outside the Earth.
The third objective seeks to incorporate private sector views on planetary defense issues, especially on Mars, given the growing capabilities and interest by companies in flying missions to other countries. This objective includes work undertaken by the government to develop guidelines for the authenticity and continuous monitoring of private sector missions in areas affected by planetary defenses.
The strategy does not set a new policy, but instead outlines work on a variety of issues over the coming year. “It’s really an action plan,” the executive said in the background. “It’s a strategy that will move work forward over the next nine months to a year.”
Planetary defense has traditionally been an issue for NASA. The agency is working to update its own planet protection policies based on recommendations made by an independent review board last year. In July, NASA announced that it was issuing new interim instructions to reclassify most of the moon into lower orbits, which do not have planetary safety requirements, as well as study how to make planetary safety guidelines compatible with future human missions to Mars. .
“We’re pretty good at what NASA has done, but the problem is that NASA’s rules and interim directives don’t really apply to the private sector,” the administration official said. The strategy depicts the officer as a “light touch” approach to the rules of any planetary defense for private missions. “We’re trying to find ways so people can move on, but safely.”
The strategy also seeks to leverage the expertise of other agencies. The Interagency Working Group includes many cabinet-level departments, from agriculture and health and human services to commerce and the state. This includes people from disease control centers, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Aviation Administration.
Many of them were brought in to support the work of backward corruption. “This is a great opportunity to bring together departments and agencies that have not historically worked together on this issue,” an administration official said. But now very excited to do so. “
“There is really no reason for space men to recreate the wheel. There are a lot of great skills out there, ”an official added.
The planet defense strategy is part of an increase in space policy activity by the White House in the final weeks of the Trump administration. In addition to the latest national space policy, the White House released a space nuclear strategy on December 16, outlining policy issues related to the development of nuclear power and propulsion capabilities.
