Mars Sample Receiving Facility and sample containment: Difference between revisions
Mars Sample Receiving Facility and sample containment (edit)
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Because of these concerns, there are proposals to build a Mars Sample Receiving Facility. This needs to be of a novel design, as it has to function both as a clean room and as a biohazard laboratory
<ref name=MSRRF-clean-room-quote>{{cite report |title=Mars Sample Return Receiving Facility - A Draft Test Protocol for Detecting Possible Biohazards in Martian Samples Returned to Earth |year=2002 |url=http://www.lpi.usra.edu/pss/presentations/200803/04-Atlas-PPSonMSR.pdf|quote=''A Sample Return Facility will require combining technologies used for constructing maximum containment laboratories (e.g. Biosafety Level 4 labs), which will be needed to ensure protection of Earth from the Mars samples, with cleanroom technologies, which will be needed to protect the Mars samples from Earth contamination.<br><br>• Such an integrated facility is not currently available.<br><br>Planetary Protection Requires Negative Air Flow to Protect Against Environmental Contamination Planetary Science and Planetary Protection Require Positive Air Flow to Protect Samples from Terrestrial Contamination''}}</ref>. It also has to contain possibly novel unknown lifeforms. ▼
▲Receiving Facility - A Draft Test Protocol for Detecting Possible Biohazards in Martian Samples Returned to Earth |year=2002 |url=http://www.lpi.usra.edu/pss/presentations/200803/04-Atlas-PPSonMSR.pdf|quote=''A Sample Return Facility will require combining technologies used for constructing maximum containment laboratories (e.g. Biosafety Level 4 labs), which will be needed to ensure protection of Earth from the Mars samples, with cleanroom technologies, which will be needed to protect the Mars samples from Earth contamination.<br><br>• Such an integrated facility is not currently available.<br><br>Planetary Protection Requires Negative Air Flow to Protect Against Environmental Contamination Planetary Science and Planetary Protection Require Positive Air Flow to Protect Samples from Terrestrial Contamination''}}</ref>. It also has to contain possibly novel unknown lifeforms.
The view of NASA, the ESA and the Office of Planetary Protection is that these risks can be contained and that a sample return can be carried out safely provided the correct precautions are taken. The reports stress the need for these precautions. The ESF report, for instance, recommends that release of a Martian particle under 0.05 microns is unacceptable under any circumstances.
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