Planetary protection classification of samples returned from the martian moons: Summary of a review by the European Science Foundation and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.

This work summarizes the review undertaken by a joint committee of the European Science Foundation and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine into the transfer of viable organisms from the surface of Mars to its moons-Phobos and Deimos-as a consequence of a giant impact on the martian surface. The possibility that viable organisms could survive ejection from Mars and subsequent deposition on Phobos and Deimos is an important consideration in determining whether samples returned from the moons by spacecraft missions be classified as restricted or unrestricted Earth return in the consensus planetary protection guidelines maintained by the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) of the International Council for Science. Having reviewed recent research undertaken in Europe and Japan, the joint committee recommended that samples returned from the martian moons be classified as unrestricted Earth return. This paper is not intended to be a standalone work. Rather, it should be regarded as a summary of, and advertisement for, the material presented in the joint committee's formal report, Planetary Protection Classification of Samples Return Missions from the Martian Moons (the National Academies Press, 2019).