NASA hosted the Science and Planetary Protection in Advance of Human Missions to Mars Workshop as the pathbreaker for a new series developed to engage the Mars science community in the planning process for precursor science, and ultimately human exploration, on Mars.

NASA hosted a two-day virtual seminar July 31-Aug. 1, 2024, to provide a foundation for the science needs and Planetary Protection (PP) background on microbial survivability on Mars, transport on Mars, locations where the search for life is of interest, identification of perceived human impacts to the Mars surface and environment, and tools and operations that may be necessary to monitor human health and associated impacts of the Mars environment.

A follow-up virtual workshop was held Oct. 30-Nov. 1, 2024, focusing on life detection in the context of PP, analog environments and future exploration, Mars environments and terrestrial biology, risk mitigation for PP, instrument and technology development, science investigations prior to crew, and an “astronaut reality check.”

NASA’s Office of Planetary Protection (OPP) recently released a report summarizing the seminar and virtual workshop as a record of the technical discussion, summary and findings for each of the breakout groups.

The report features these areas of discussion:

• Life Detection in the Context of Planetary Protection
• Analogs and Future Exploration
• Mars Environmental and Terrestrial Biology
• Mitigating Risk for Planetary Protection
• Instruments and Tech Development
• Science Investigations

OPP has incorporated feedback from the summary and findings and is currently working with the following themes to address knowledge gaps in advance of crew to Mars:

• Creating an end-to-end solution integrating science, engineering and operations
• Necessity of precursor missions
• Resolving knowledge gaps about Mars weather  

These themes will be incorporated into the science, research and technology development planning to close Mars PP knowledge gaps.

See the report here. Contact Planetary Protection Officer Nick Benardini for additional information.