Planetary Protection Knowledge Gap Closure Enabling Crewed Missions to Mars.

As focus for exploration of Mars transitions from current robotic explorers to development of crewed missions, it remains important to protect the integrity of scientific investigations at Mars, as well as protect the Earth's biosphere from any potential harmful effects from returned martian material. This is the discipline of planetary protection, and the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) maintains the consensus international policy and guidelines on how this is implemented. Based on National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and European Space Agency (ESA) studies that began in 2001, COSPAR adopted principles and guidelines for human missions to Mars in 2008.

Low-Latency Teleoperations, Planetary Protection, and Astrobiology.

Low-latency teleoperations (LLT), or "telepresence" allows for the control of almost any asset in essentially real-time and has significant potential to address potential planetary protection concerns and to enhance astrobiology exploration activities on both robotic and human missions to Mars and elsewhere in the solar system. LLT can assist with the search for extraterrestrial life and help mitigate planetary protection concerns as required by the UN Outer Space Treaty. LLT can help by allowing for real-time exploration of areas that may otherwise not be conducive to direct human contact.

Discovery of extra-terrestrial life: assessment by scales of its importance and associated risks.

The Rio Scale accepted by the SETI Committee of the International Academy of Astronautics in 2002 is intended for use in evaluating the impact on society of any announcement regarding the discovery of evidence of extra-terrestrial (ET) intelligence. The Rio Scale is mathematically defined using three parameters (class of phenomenon, type of discovery and distance) and a δ factor, the assumed credibility of a claim. This paper proposes a new scale applicable to announcements alleging evidence of ET life within or outside our Solar System.

Migrating microbes and planetary protection.

Since the dawn of the space age, humans have wrestled with concerns about planetary cross-contamination. Spacecraft launched from Earth can transport hitchhiker microbes to new worlds on both robotic and crewed vehicles. As plans proceed for future life detection and human exploration missions, planetary protection considerations are again uppermost on the agendas of mission planners, and microbiologists have an important role to play.

An evaluation of the role and effectiveness of institutional biosafety committees in providing oversight and security at biocontainment laboratories.

Institutional biosafety committees (IBCs) have been charged with the oversight and review of biosafety at thousands of biocontainment labs nationwide, hundreds of which are high-level BSL-3 and BSL-4 labs. In light of the recent rapid proliferation of BSL-3 and BSL-4 facilities and the increases in research in the areas of biodefense, select agents, recombinant DNA, and synthetic biology and dual-use research, questions have been raised about whether IBCs are fulfilling their oversight responsibilities. This article reviews information on the responsibilities and expectations of IBCs as currently constituted and provides an analysis of IBC performance from survey data of hundreds of research institutions over the past several years.

Competitive displacement and predation between introduced and native mud snails.

Experimental field and laboratory studies indicate that Cerithidea californica, a native mud snail, is restricted to only a portion of its normal habitat range in San Francisco Bay as a result of direct interactions with an introduced ecological equivalent, Ilyanassa obsoleta. The native snail typically inhabits marsh pans, tidal creeks and mudflats in estuaries along the Pacific coast. However, in San Francisco Bay it is confined to pans for most of the year, while the non-native snail inhabits the creeks and mudflats.