🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1hvg8sINNppt@mirror.digex.com> prb@access.digex.com (Pat) writes:
>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.

True.  After it's mission is finished, MO will be raised to a high
enough orbit to prevent it's re-entry for X thousand years.

On a related note, the designers of Viking were worried that
the Soviets would land a probe on Mars before their landing without
following strict sterilization procedures.  This, they felt, might
contaminate Viking's biological results.  Luckily, the soviets decided
to follow similar guidlines. 

--
Ed McCreary                                               ,__o
mccreary@sword.eng.hou.compaq.com                       _-\_<,
"If it were not for laughter, there would be no Tao."  (*)/'(*)