[X] My Assistant

[Guest_PhilCo126_*]

Well, we all know that the COSPAR treaty has set some rules to avoid contamination of the planets by 'bacteria' from Earth ... and a similar program exists to protect Earth's environment for 'alien' bacteria which could be brought back during sample-return missions.
I'm trying to make a list of Planetary Quarantine & Planetary Sterilisation measures which were taken for spacecraft bound to Mars:

e.g. Both Viking Landers were encapsulated in an enclosed bioshield and 'cooked' ( = heat sterilization ) in an oven at NEC for 30 hours at 111.7 degrees Celsius !

Trying to find out what was done for Mars Polar Lander, Pathfinder-Sojourner, MER Spirit & Opportunity, ...

[hal_9000]

More here..

http://marstech.jpl.nasa.gov/content/detai...at=&TaskID=2286

We are studying spore migration from the JPL Spacecraft Assembly Facility to spacecraft, and adhesion properties of spores and spore-containing dust particles to spacecraft surfaces. Study results allow assessment of contamination probabilities and enable generation of recommended implementation approaches for bio-cleanliness and containment.

The objective of the research is to investigate the physical and chemical processes of the adhesion properties of spores and spore-associated dust particles on common spacecraft materials. The spore-material surface adhesion-force measurements generated by this study provide experimental bases for use by the contaminant transport models for forward planetary protection for MEP missions. Furthermore, this task may lead to the development of new planetary protection technologies with more-efficient cleaning and evaluation methods.