NASA’s Planetary Protection (PP) team recently published two new lunar reporting forms to the PP page on the Office of Safety and Mission Assurance website. These forms streamline PP mission reporting and standardize reporting for missions with multiple rideshares.

Additionally, they address reporting requirements for Lunar Category II, IIa and IIb missions. These include organic inventory and volatile reporting as required by NASA-STD-8719.27,  Section 4.3, Implementing Planetary Protection Requirements for Space Flight, and post-launch/end-of-mission reporting as required by NASA 8715.24 Section 3.3, Planetary Protection Provisions for Robotic Extraterrestrial Missions.

The Planetary Protection Category II mission organic inventory form serves as an itemized list of the bulk organic materials used during the mission through the inclusion of different sections for documenting material name, usage, and information about the amount. The post-launch/end-of-mission form features a series of yes or no questions related to the mission with room for providing additional information as needed.

“The intent is for NASA and NASA-partnered missions to use these forms, but they may also be a viable solution for commercial missions using the commercial payload voluntary review process,” said Nick Benardini, Planetary Protection Officer.

In fact, feedback from engagement with commercial providers resulted in an update to the pre-launch organics inventory reporting form and streamlined the post-launch/end-of-mission reporting form for Category II Lunar missions prior to release.

“We plan to add these beneficial forms to the appendices section of the Planetary Protection Handbook, which is a living document, to ensure the handbook remains up to date with the latest resources,” said Erin Lalime, acting deputy Planetary Protection Officer.

The new forms are accessible under the Guidance section of the PP page. Contact Benardini with questions.