\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNASA\u2019s Planetary Protection Team Conducts Vital Research for Deep Space Missions\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"Marshall](\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/ceb-3900.jpg?w=1536\")
<\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\nCassilly examines fungal growth obtained from a space environmental exposure study, part of the Planetary Protection team\u2019s work to understand the ability of microbes to survive conditions in deep space. <\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\tCredits: <\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tNASA\/Charles Beason<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\nBy Celine Smith<\/em><\/p>\nAs NASA continues its exploration of the solar system, including future crewed missions to Mars, experts in the agency\u2019s Office of Planetary Protection<\/a> are developing advanced tactics to prevent NASA expeditions from introducing biological contaminants to other worlds.<\/p>\nAt NASA\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, the Planetary Protection team is contributing to this work \u2013 pursuing new detection, cleaning, and decontamination methods that will protect alien biospheres, safeguard future planetary science missions, and prevent potentially hazardous microbes from being returned to Earth. The Planetary Protection team is a part of the Space Environmental Effects (SEE) team in Marshall\u2019s Materials and Processes Laboratory.<\/p>\n
\n\n\n![\"Planetary](\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/ceb-3874.jpg?w=2048\")
<\/figure>\nChelsi Cassilly, lead of Marshall Space Flight Center\u2019s Planetary Protection Laboratory, researches microbes and their behaviors to preserve the environment of other planetary bodies after future missions. <\/div>\nNASA\/Charles Beason<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nPlanetary Protection microbiologist Chelsi Cassilly said much of Planetary Protection focuses on \u201cbioburden\u201d which is typically considered the number of bacterial endospores (commonly referred to as \u201cspores\u201d) found on and in materials. Such materials can range from paints and coatings on robotic landers to solid propellants in solid rocket motors. NASA currently requires robotic missions to Mars meet strict bioburden limits and is assessing how to apply similar policies to future, crewed missions to the Red Planet.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s impossible to eliminate microbes completely,\u201d Cassily said. \u201cBut it\u2019s our job to minimize bioburden, keeping the probability of contamination sufficiently low to protect the extraterrestrial environments we explore.\u201d<\/p>\n
Currently, Marshall\u2019s Planetary Protection research supports NASA\u2019s Mars Ascent Vehicle<\/a>, a key component of the planned Mars Sample Return campaign<\/a>, and risk-reduction efforts for the Human Landing System program<\/a>.<\/p>\nCritically, Planetary Protection prevents the introduction of microbes from Earth onto planetary bodies where they might proliferate and subsequently interfere with scientific study of past or current life there. If Earth\u2019s microbes were to contaminate samples collected on Mars or Europa, the scientific findings would be an inaccurate depiction of these environments, potentially precluding the ability to determine if life ever existed there. Preserving the scientific integrity of these missions is of the utmost importance to Cassilly and her team.<\/p>\n
Contamination mitigation tactics used in the past also may not work with modern hardware and materials. For the Viking missions to Mars, NASA employed a total spacecraft \u201cheat microbial reduction\u201d (HMR) process, a prolonged exposure to high temperatures to kill off or minimize microbes. As spacecrafts advance, NASA is more discerning, using HMR for components and\/or subassemblies instead of the entire spacecraft.<\/p>\n
According to Cassilly, HMR may not always be an ideal solution because, extended time at high temperatures required to kill microbes can degrade the integrity of certain materials, potentially impacting mission success. While this is not a problem for all materials, there is still a need to expand NASA\u2019s repertoire of acceptable microbial reduction techniques to include ones that may be more efficient and sustainable.<\/p>\n
\n\n\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/mold.jpg?w=2048\")
<\/figure>\nThis mold from the genus Cladosporium was collected from the surface of a cleanroom table at Marshall. This and other microbes within cleanrooms pose the biggest threat to spacecraft cleanliness and meeting Planetary Protection requirements. <\/div>\nJacobs Engineering\/Chelsi Cassilly<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nTo contribute to NASA\u2019s Planetary Protection efforts, Cassilly undertook a project \u2013 funded by a Jacobs Innovation Grant \u2013 to build a microbial library that could better inform and guide mitigation research. That meant visiting cleanrooms at Marshall to collect prevalent microbes, extracting DNA, amplifying specific genes, and submitting them for commercial sequencing. They identified 95% of the microbes within their library which is continually growing as more microbes are collected and identified.<\/p>\n
The Planetary Protection team is interested in taking this work a step further by exposing their microbial library to space-like stressors\u2014including ultraviolet light, ionizing radiation, temperature extremes, desiccation, and vacuum\u2014to determine survivability.<\/p>\n
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<\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\tNASA\/Charles Beason<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
By Celine Smith<\/em><\/p>\n As NASA continues its exploration of the solar system, including future crewed missions to Mars, experts in the agency\u2019s Office of Planetary Protection<\/a> are developing advanced tactics to prevent NASA expeditions from introducing biological contaminants to other worlds.<\/p>\n At NASA\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, the Planetary Protection team is contributing to this work \u2013 pursuing new detection, cleaning, and decontamination methods that will protect alien biospheres, safeguard future planetary science missions, and prevent potentially hazardous microbes from being returned to Earth. The Planetary Protection team is a part of the Space Environmental Effects (SEE) team in Marshall\u2019s Materials and Processes Laboratory.<\/p>\n Planetary Protection microbiologist Chelsi Cassilly said much of Planetary Protection focuses on \u201cbioburden\u201d which is typically considered the number of bacterial endospores (commonly referred to as \u201cspores\u201d) found on and in materials. Such materials can range from paints and coatings on robotic landers to solid propellants in solid rocket motors. NASA currently requires robotic missions to Mars meet strict bioburden limits and is assessing how to apply similar policies to future, crewed missions to the Red Planet.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s impossible to eliminate microbes completely,\u201d Cassily said. \u201cBut it\u2019s our job to minimize bioburden, keeping the probability of contamination sufficiently low to protect the extraterrestrial environments we explore.\u201d<\/p>\n Currently, Marshall\u2019s Planetary Protection research supports NASA\u2019s Mars Ascent Vehicle<\/a>, a key component of the planned Mars Sample Return campaign<\/a>, and risk-reduction efforts for the Human Landing System program<\/a>.<\/p>\n Critically, Planetary Protection prevents the introduction of microbes from Earth onto planetary bodies where they might proliferate and subsequently interfere with scientific study of past or current life there. If Earth\u2019s microbes were to contaminate samples collected on Mars or Europa, the scientific findings would be an inaccurate depiction of these environments, potentially precluding the ability to determine if life ever existed there. Preserving the scientific integrity of these missions is of the utmost importance to Cassilly and her team.<\/p>\n Contamination mitigation tactics used in the past also may not work with modern hardware and materials. For the Viking missions to Mars, NASA employed a total spacecraft \u201cheat microbial reduction\u201d (HMR) process, a prolonged exposure to high temperatures to kill off or minimize microbes. As spacecrafts advance, NASA is more discerning, using HMR for components and\/or subassemblies instead of the entire spacecraft.<\/p>\n According to Cassilly, HMR may not always be an ideal solution because, extended time at high temperatures required to kill microbes can degrade the integrity of certain materials, potentially impacting mission success. While this is not a problem for all materials, there is still a need to expand NASA\u2019s repertoire of acceptable microbial reduction techniques to include ones that may be more efficient and sustainable.<\/p>\n To contribute to NASA\u2019s Planetary Protection efforts, Cassilly undertook a project \u2013 funded by a Jacobs Innovation Grant \u2013 to build a microbial library that could better inform and guide mitigation research. That meant visiting cleanrooms at Marshall to collect prevalent microbes, extracting DNA, amplifying specific genes, and submitting them for commercial sequencing. They identified 95% of the microbes within their library which is continually growing as more microbes are collected and identified.<\/p>\n The Planetary Protection team is interested in taking this work a step further by exposing their microbial library to space-like stressors\u2014including ultraviolet light, ionizing radiation, temperature extremes, desiccation, and vacuum\u2014to determine survivability.<\/p>\n<\/figure><\/figure>