The COSPAR Planetary Protection Requirements for Space Missions to Mars

The Committee on Space Research’s (COSPAR) Planetary Protection Policy (herein referred to as the Policy) has been developed through deliberation between the scientific community and the national space agencies to 1) ensure that scientific investigations of possible extra-terrestrial life forms, precursors, and remnants are not jeopardized; and 2) Earth is protected from the potential hazard posed by extra-terrestrial matter carried by a spacecraft returning from an interplanetary mission (COSPAR 2020).The COSPAR Panel on Planetary Protection (herein referred to as the Panel)regularly updates the Policy based on workshops and activities that are led by the community, or by national committees. For example, the requirements for the icy moons of the outer Solar System have been scrutinized as part of a European Commission’s H2020 Programme (Rettberg et al 2019) and a National Research Council report (NRC 2012), which led to recommendations being made to COSPAR, which resulted in an update to the regulations (COSPAR 2020). Another example is the recent update of the regulations relating to the moon. The Panel conducted a dedicated community consultation that led to an updated Policy (COSPAR, 2021). [...