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NASA Ball NASA
Procedural
Requirements
NPR 8715.24
Effective Date: September 24, 2021
Expiration Date: September 24, 2026
COMPLIANCE IS MANDATORY FOR NASA EMPLOYEES
Printable Format (PDF)

Subject: Planetary Protection Provisions for Robotic Extraterrestrial Missions

Responsible Office: Office of Safety and Mission Assurance


| TOC | Preface | Chapter1 | Chapter2 | Chapter3 | AppendixA | AppendixB | AppendixC | AppendixD | ALL |

Preface

P.1 Purpose

a. This directive defines NASA roles and responsibilities and the procedural requirements, informed by Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) Planetary Protection Policy and Guidelines (hereafter referred to as COSPAR policy and guidelines) and National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) advice, to:

(1) Control the risk of harmful contamination to other bodies in the solar system, protecting the integrity of the search for and study of processes of chemical evolution or origin of life.

(2) Prevent potentially harmful consequences for humans and the Earth’s environment due to the return of extraterrestrial samples from destinations or operations categorized as restricted Earth return.

P.2 Applicability

a. This directive is applicable to NASA Headquarters and NASA Centers, including Component Facilities and Technical and Service Support Centers. This language applies to Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) (a Federally-Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC)), other contractors, recipients of grants, cooperative agreements, and other agreements only to the extent specified or referenced in the applicable contracts, grants, or agreements.

b. This directive is applicable to all robotic missions that may encounter other solar system bodies in nominal and credible off-nominal scenarios, including those launched from human-rated spacecraft and platforms, secondary payloads deployed from Earth-orbiting robotic missions, those to and from the Earth's Moon, and those of robotic solar system exploration missions returning extraterrestrial samples to the Earth-Moon system. Credible off-nominal scenarios include those that could affect compliance with the probabilistic constraints informed by COSPAR policy and guidelines.

c. In this directive, all mandatory actions (i.e., requirements) are denoted by statements containing the term “shall.” The terms “may” denotes a discretionary privilege or permission, "can" denotes statements of possibility or capability, "should" denotes a good practice and is recommended, but not required, "will" denotes expected outcome, and "are/is" denotes descriptive material.

d. In this directive, all document citations are assumed to be the latest version unless otherwise noted. Use of more recent versions of cited documents may be authorized by the responsible Safety and Mission Assurance (SMA) Technical Authority (TA).

P.3 Authority

a. PD/NSC-25, Scientific or Technological Experiments with Possible Large-Scale Adverse Environmental Effects and Launch of Nuclear Systems into Space, dated December 14, 1977.

b. Procedures for Implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), 14 CFR § 1216.3.

c. NPD 1000.3, The NASA Organization.

d. NPD 8700.1, NASA Policy for Safety and Mission Success.

P.4 Applicable Documents and Forms

None.

P.5 Measurement/Verification

Compliance with the requirements contained in this directive is continuously monitored by the Project-Level SMA TA and by the NASA Office of Safety and Mission Assurance (OSMA). Compliance is also verified as part of selected life-cycle reviews and by assessments, reviews, and audits of the requirements and processes defined within this directive.

P.6 Cancellation

a. NPR 8020.12D, Planetary Protection Provisions for Robotic Extraterrestrial Missions, dated April 20, 2011.

b. NID 8020.109A, Planetary Protection Provisions for Robotic Extraterrestrial Missions, dated March 30, 2017.

c. NID 8715.128, Planetary Protection Categorization for Robotic and Crewed Missions to the Earth’s Moon.



| TOC | Preface | Chapter1 | Chapter2 | Chapter3 | AppendixA | AppendixB | AppendixC | AppendixD | ALL |
 
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