Planetary Protection

Planetary Protection is 'the practice of protecting Solar System bodies from contamination by Earth life and protecting Earth from possible life forms that may be returned from other Solar System bodies'

Most space missions don’t return to Earth and therefore these missions are primarily focused towards 'forward contamination', or spreading materials from Earth to other planets and moons in the solar system which would contaminate them (and therefore potentially ruin the search for life). However when a mission does return to Earth, such as the forthcoming Mars Sample Return mission, there is concern about 'backwards contamination': the is bringing of unwanted, harmful, materials back to Earth.

Article IX of the Outer Space Treaty provides a legal requirement for Planetary Protection, but it is the COSPAR Planetary Protection Policy which provides the details on best practices.

As more missions are planned, including those by commercial entities, Planetary Protection will need to evolve in order to cover these developments. While COPSAR has proved flexible over the decades the underlying legal infrastructure moves at a slower pace.

For more information:

• Planetary Protection in the New Space Era
• Planetary Protection: Space Governance and the Search for Life
• Space Law and Planetary Protection
• Beyond Planetary Protection? Article IX of the OST as a Foundation for an International Environmental Law for Outer Space