National Research Council. Icy Solar System Bodies

Assessment of Planetary Protection Requirements for Spacecraft Missions to Icy Solar System Bodies by Committee on Planetary Protection Standards for Icy Bodies in the Outer Solar System, National Academies Press, Washington, 2012, X, 83 p. — ISBN-13: 978-0-309-25675-9, ISBN-10: 0-309-25675-5.NASA's exploration of planets and satellites during the past 50 years has led to the discovery of traces of water ice throughout the solar system and prospects for large liquid water reservoirs beneath the frozen ICE shells of multiple satellites of the giant planets of the outer solar system. During the coming decades, NASA and other space agencies will send flybys, orbiters, subsurface probes, and, possibly, landers to these distant worlds in order to explore their geologic and chemical context. Because of their potential to harbor alien life, NASA will select missions that target the most habitable outer solar system objects. This strategy poses formidable challenges for mission planners who must balance the opportunity for exploration with the risk of contamination by Earth's microbes, which could confuse the interpretation of data obtained from these objects.