In the other days of distance geographic expedition , NASA fundamentally made up routine on the fly . With little noesis of the world outside our ambience , agency physicians worried what humans might encounter out there . MaybeJohn Glenn would go Space Blind . Maybe the Apollo 11 work party would track anAndromeda Strainthrough the Lunar Command Module , unleash a deadly moon virus on a defenseless land .
https://gizmodo.com/doctors-feared-john-glenn-would-go-space-blind-during-h-5886191
well safe than sorry , NASA figure . Here ’s how scientists attempted to protect our major planet — and the rest of the solar system — from the scourge of extraterrestrial germ .
The early days of decontamination
First of all , NASA always took planetary protection very severely . The Office of Planetary Protection ( OPR ) was formed in 1967 , as part of the United Nations Treaty on Principles Governing the bodily function of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space , Including the Moon and Other Bodies . This treaty states that party countries “ shall engage studies of outer space , admit the moon and other heavenly bodies , and behave exploration of them so as to fend off their harmful pollution . ”
fundamentally , the treaty demands that countries take all stride necessary to defend our biosphere from infinite germs , and vice versa . The idea was to preclude a real life Blob snafu on Earth , while at the same time stopping the feast of Streptococcus bacterium throughout the solar system .
NASA first began discussing these ideas in 1964 , when the Space Science Board first called together the Public Health Service , the Department of Agriculture , the Fish and Wildlife Service , the National Academy of Sciences , and NASA to assess the dangers of back - contamination — fundamentally , extraterrestrial organism invading Earth — and what to do about it if it happen . As theconference determined :
The existence of life on the moon or planets can not . . . rationally be precluded . At the very least , present evidence is not discrepant with its presence . . . . Negative data will not prove that extraterrestrial life does not be ; they will simply mean that it has not been find .
To contain any alien life sentence forms , astronaut , spacecraft , and lunar material fall back from the lunar month should be placed now in an isolation unit ; the astronauts should be held in rigid quarantine for at least three weeks ; and preliminary exam of the samples should be conducted behind absolute biologic barrier , under rigid bacterial and chemical closing off .
The various government agencies figured that , based on their knowledge of terrestrial bacteria and virii at the sentence , that any sort of infective tiptop - hemipterous insect would more than likely reveal itself within 21 twenty-four hour period of transmission . Thus , their solution for crew memebers was simple — three weeks of quarantine supplement with daily intensive aesculapian exams . ( Like , “ turn your head and cough , ” time one - thousand ) . To treat returning ballistic capsule , sample container , and transport vehicles , NASA built the most ripe bio - containment structures of their day — the Mobile Quarantine Facility ( MQF ) aboard the USS Hornet and the Lunar Receiving Laboratory ( LRL ) at the Johnson Space Center .
When the Apollo 11 work party splash down in the Pacific , they first donned Biological Isolation Garments ( BIG case ) provided by UDT decontamination specialist , LT Clancy Hatleberg , from the Hornet ’s recovery squad . Made from a particular nylon - based material that isolated microorganisms from the body , these bio - iso suits used mellow - efficiency gas helmet to keep the cosmonaut breathing while the crew was airlifted from the program line faculty to the MQF .
Before leave the command module , everyone on base was pass over down with sodium - hypochlorite ( think tiptop - bleach ) while the command faculty hatch got a once - over with betadine to sterilise any moon rubble that might have hitched a ride . Upon being inter at the MQF , the crowing suit , the UDT decontamination equipment , even the raft that the Apollo crew stick out upon was cleaned and sunk . Helicopter 66 , the one that ferried the gang to the Hornet , was locked by in quarantine while lunar sample and film canisters were immediately ship to Houston .
The MQF was a function - progress module , shown above , created to transport the Apollo 11 bunch from the middle of the Pacific to the LRL in Houston , TX without ever reveal anyone to Earth ’s air . Roomy enough to house six astronauts , it included a lounge , galley , sleeping and head facility , and was power externally by the Hornet . Strong negatively charged interior pressure and DoS - of - the - graphics air filtration helped to maintain quarantine during transport . All waste water and biological effluence was first chemically treated , and then stored in seal quarantine buckets . All meal within the MQF were design to be microwaved within their in sterile sheath .
Once the Hornet reached Houston , NASA transfer Apollo ’s crew and equipment to the 83,000 sqft LRL where they would spend the next 21 day . This closing off installation house the crew and all support stave that had come up into link with them , include two crew sawbones , a recovery engineer , medical laboratory technician , cooks , and steward . Meanwhile , on - site testing facilities determined if lunar sampling were infectious . As at the MQF , all melted and biologic waste was chemically treated and stored , while all expunged air was incinerated before being give up into the atm .
According to a report commission by the LBJ space centre :
The principal biologic roadblock consisted of the vacuum complex and Class III biologic cabinets . A secondary roadblock was maintained in the Crew Reception Area and the sample testing ground by keeping the surface area at damaging pressure with respect to the atmospherical pressure external to the construction . Within these two barriers , the postmission employment on return lunar sample was execute .
Crew member ’ clock time there require a litany of medical exams — everyday pulsation and oral temperature tests , interviews with the crowd surgeon , biological sample collected on the 12th and eighteenth day of quarantine , and a full physical on the 21st . Since quarantine measure had to be maintained in any event , had any astronauts come down with space pest , they ’d have been treated within the LRL . It was stocked with the recent in emergency medical equipment , and it even had a small pharmacy . Thankfully , the eruption never bechance .
How we clean up today
The current procedures and methods , as dictated by the “ Outer Space ” Treaty of 1967 , are get by the Committee on Space Research ( COSPAR ) , which is part of the UN ’s International Council of Science ( ICSU ) . They depart depending on the type of mission being undertaken — planetary flybys , orbital missions around the synodic month , and shore on put across asteroids all take distinct potential biologic threats . Therefore , all proposed space missions are now scab on a five - category scale according to their catastrophic potential difference .
Any mission to the Sun , Mercury , or other celestial dead body with virtually zero chance of biological contamination and for which NASA has no interest in studying potential biologic system .
Any missionary post to Earth ’s Moon , Venus , comets , Jupiter , Pluto / Charon , Kuiper Belt object or other bodies wherein NASA wants to perform “ bare documentation ” of biological and chemical systems but where the chance of taint remain remote .
Any flyby or orbital mission for the specific intent of studying chemical or biologic system of bodies suspect of harbor aliveness . This include trips to Mars , Europa , Titan , or Enceladus where forward - contamination ( ground microbes occupy other major planet , moons , etc ) may occur .
Any missionary work that necessitate landing on extraterrestrial bodies for the specific purpose of interact or otherwise examine for chemical substance processes and would present a substantial - enough chance for forward - pollution to threaten the biologic sanctity of the country studied . For instance , the latest Mars Rover delegation is turn over a Class IV give the rebuff , albeit very real , fortune of incidentally introducing staph or another common Earth hemipteran into Martian soil via its various probings . The same become for upcoming military mission to Europa , Titan , and Enceladus .
Any mission that sets down on a extraneous consistency and later on yield to Earth carrying sample is automatically deemed a Class V , present the opportunity for back - contamination of Andromeda Strain proportions . This class is divided into two subcategories : Unrestricted and Restricted . Unrestricted Return to Earth is employed when the extraterrestrial body is n’t considered a possible host for spirit and is about Class III stringent . Restricted Return to Earth foreign mission however are pie-eyed than a Green Zone checkpoint . This mission appointment mean that NASA will lief throw a multi - billion dollar bill space vehicle into the Sun rather than let it reenter orbit if containment protocol have somehow been gap . Even if containment is maintained , the OPR dictate that “ Emily Post - mission , there is a need to convey timely analysis of the give unsterilized samples , under strict containment , and using the most sensitive techniques . If any polarity of the existence of a non - planetary replicating organism is rule , the rejoin sampling must remain hold unless deal by an effective sterilisation procedure . ”
As for the challenges faced with the Mars Rover , Norine Noonan , chair of NASA ’s Planetary Protection Advisory Committee , described to Wired :
“ When we do play samples back to Earth , we ca n’t do what we did with the moon rocks . The folks back then simply did n’t address sample in a way of life that ’s consistent with our understanding today of what we need to do . We have to think about how we will collect samples of Martian soil and bring them back in a container that has never get through the Martian atmospheric state . We ’ll want a circle of symptomatic tools onboard so the spacecraft can do taint testing . Then we can decide whether we want to deviate the spacecraft somewhere or air it into the sun , reckon on the tier of risk . ”
The risks of forward contamination
While the scene of fail via space pestilence is a terrifying thought for humanity , we have a much big chance of decimate endemic extraterrestrial coinage before we even bonk they live . Just as European explorers obliterate Native American populations with imports of smallpox , ruddy feverishness , and grippe , our space vehicle teem with bacteria , despite being shoot through the vast radioactive nihility of space . We know this because of the unmanned moon geographic expedition vehicle Surveyor 3 .
Despite being constructed in aClass 100,000clean way , a minuscule population of Streptococcus bacteria live onboard Surveyor 3 . The microbes not only made it to the Moon but survived for three old age on the lunar open . Subsequent studies have shown that multicellular animals liketardigradescouldn’t give two shits about having to live in a deficiency of ambiance . Furthermore , DNA contamination can last even longer than bacteria in the frosty embrace of space . So how does NASA prevent its remote-controlled ballistic capsule from act as like mod day John Rolfes ? sterilisation , and lots of it .
Until NASA finishes hone decontamination via hydrogen peroxide vapor , it relies on a combination of clean rooms , Vasco da Gamma radiation sickness , ultra - violet radiation and oestrus to nix terrene microbes before we shoot our scientific loads into place . The most efficacious method acting is known as “ Viking - degree sterilisation function ” in credit to the Viking lander missions to Mars . The Viking Lander was make in a class 100,000 clean room — meaning that fewer than 100,000 particles sized 0.5 microns or gravid were present per three-dimensional measure of air . All part of the lander were also baked at 115 degrees Celsius for over 50 hours before being pack for launch .
However , since many New components ca n’t handle that extreme temperature , low - warmth hydrogen peroxide vaporization techniques are being developed . This involves subject the component to multiple cycles of a vacuum which has been flood with Hydrogen Peroxide accelerator .
Looking forward , Class 100,000 wo n’t cut it anymore . In fact , it ’s just better than a normal room . ballistic capsule under structure now are built in Class 100 clean rooms . These push hyper - scrubbed strain in one instruction through a way to minimize particulate matter contamination . The suite themselves are protected from contagion by atmospherical barrier . Looking back , one day , these methods may seem as primitive as the praxis used 45 years ago on the Hornet .
It would be truly awesome to encounter life elsewhere in the existence . But such an occasion does not come without risks .
[ Johnson Space Center – NASA(pdf),2 , 3 , – Dept of State – Wikipedia1,2,3 , Office of Planetary Protection1,2 – US Navy – USS Hornet – Space Daily – Astronautix – Wired – icon : AP Images ]
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