🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <C03tGM.DpE.1@cs.cmu.edu> roberts@cmr.ncsl.nist.gov (John Roberts) writes:
>
>
>By the way, before I forget - I recently saw an old (1960s) clip on NASA
>Select, discussing the sterilization of unmanned probes for exploration of
>planetary surfaces (so as to avoid contaminating possible native life before
>studies could be conducted). The plan at that time was to sterilize the
>probes by exposing them to ethylene oxide gas. Items such as sensors that
>might be sensitive to ethylene oxide could be sterilized by other means,
>and covered during exposure to the gas.


NASA  has adopted the COSPAR guidelines on planetary protection and i believe
even has an office for this.  They are concerned about contamination in
both ways.  They reccomend, heat sterilization, radiation,  gas and chemicals.

The big concern now is not so much establishing earth organisms on foreign
bodies, but destroyin/contaminating archaeology studies of exo-biology.

I know the Mars Observer orbit was constrained under planetary protection
guidelines to stay off the surface for X thousand years.