Documents and Templates

Below are links to publicly available documents related to planetary protection, astrobiology, and solar system exploration.

Documents are presented in either HTML or PDF formats (a free PDF viewer can be downloaded from Acrobat).

Many of the following reports are also summarized on this page, courtesy of Margaret Race from the SETI Institute.


NASA Technical Documents, and Reports

(please note that if the direct link to a NPR or NPD is no longer active, you may be able to search for the document at the NODIS Library)

• NASA Technical Reports Server, NTRS

• NASA Online Directives Information System, NODIS Library

• NPR 8020.12D: Planetary Protection Provisions for Robotic Extraterrestrial Missions

• NPD 8020.7G: Biological Contamination Control for Outbound and Inbound Planetary Spacecraft

• Handbook for the Microbial Examination of Space Hardware (NASA-HDBK-6022, 8.17.2010)

• Draft Test Protocol for Mars Sample Return

• NPD 7100.10E: Curation of Extraterrestrial Materials
  
  

Bibliographies of Planetary Protection (Quarantine) Research (1945-1977)

• Bibliography of Planetary Quarantine. Volume I: Policy (1958-1967)

• Bibliography of Planetary Quarantine. Volume II: Environmental Microbiology (1945-1967)

• Bibliography of Planetary Quarantine. Volume III: Engineering (1945-1967)

• Bibliography of Planetary Quarantine. Volume III: Engineering (1945-1967)

• Bibliography of Scientific Publications and Presentations Relating to Planetary Quarantine (1966- 1971)

• Bibliography of Scientific Publications and Presentations Relating to Planetary Quarantine (1972- 1976)
  
  

NASA Documents and Books related to Planetary Protection

• When Biospheres Collide: A History of NASA’s Planetary Protection Programs, Sept. 14 2011, Michael Meltzer

• The Planetary Quarantine Program: Origins and Achievements, 1956-1973

• Chronology of Lunar and Planetary Exploration, 1957-present

• Lunar Exploration Timeline, 1959-1976

• On Mars: Exploration of the Red Planet, 1958-1978

• Where No Man Has Gone Before: A History of Apollo Lunar Exploration Missions

• 25 Years of Curating Moon Rocks
  
  

Committee on Space Research of the International Council for Science

• COSPAR Planetary Protection Policy
  
  

Reports of the Space Studies Board of the National Research Council

Reports Relevant to Planetary Protection and Astrobiology

• Assessment of Planetary Protection Requirements for Spacecraft Missions to Icy Solar System Bodies

• Assessment of Planetary Protection Requirements for Mars Sample Return Missions

• Preventing the Forward Contamination of Mars

• Assessment of Planetary Protection Requirements for Venus Missions

• Life in the Universe: an Examination of United States and International Programs in Astrobiology

• The Quarantine and Certification of Martian Samples

• Signs of Life: A Report Based on the April 2000 Workshop on Life Detection Techniques

• Preventing the Forward Contamination of Europa

• Evaluating the Biological Potential in Samples Returned From Planetary Satellites and Small Solar System Bodies

• Mars Sample Return: Issues and Recommendations

• Biological Contamination of Mars: Issues and Recommendations

• The Search for Life’s Origins: Progress and Future Directions in Planetary Biology and Chemical Evolution
  
  

Reports Relevant to Solar System Exploration

• Review of Goals and Plans for NASA’s Space and Earth Sciences

• New Frontiers in the Solar System: An Integrated Exploration Strategy

• Assessment of Mars Science and Mission Priorities

• A Science Strategy for the Exploration of Europa

• A Scientific Rationale for Mobility in Planetary Environments

• Assessment of NASA’s Mars Architecture 2007 – 2016

• On NASA Mars Sample-Return Mission Options

• Review of NASA’s Planned Mars Program

• An Integrated Strategy for the Planetary Sciences: 1995-2010

• International Cooperation for Mars Exploration and Sample Return

• Update to Strategy for Exploration of the Inner Planets

• Space Science in the Twenty-First Century: Imperatives for the Decades 1995 to 2015, Overview