[meteorite-list] Preparation For Martian Samples Quarantine Facility Must Begin Soon

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:46:26 2004
Message-ID: <200105301502.IAA21616_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

Office of News and Public Information
National Academy of Sciences
Washington, D.C.

Contacts:
Jennifer Wenger, Media Relations Associate
Mark Chesnek, Media Relations Assistant
(202) 334-2138; e-mail: news_at_nas.edu

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 29, 2001

PREPARATION FOR MARTIAN SAMPLES QUARANTINE FACILITY MUST BEGIN SOON TO BE
READY FOR FIRST MISSION

WASHINGTON -- Work on a quarantine facility must begin soon if it is to be
ready in time for spacecraft returning to Earth with martian rocks and soil
in tow, says a new report from the National Academies' National Research
Council. Although the probability is extremely low that these samples will
contain hazardous organisms, prudence dictates that all material must be
rigorously quarantined at first.

With current projections indicating that the first sampling mission to Mars
could launch in 2011, martian samples could reach Earth as early as 2014.
A facility that isolates the samples from terrestrial organisms and
chemicals -- while safeguarding the Earth's environment from possible
contamination -- will probably take seven years or more to design, build,
and test.

"Building this type of quarantine facility is a project of enormous
complexity," said John Wood, chair of the committee that wrote the report
and staff scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics,
Cambridge, Mass. "We strongly recommend that this process get under way
as soon as possible."

One major problem in constructing such a facility is the unprecedented
need for both biological containment and clean-room conditions. Biological
containment is designed to protect the Earth's environment from possible
contamination by the samples. Clean-room conditions are needed to prevent
terrestrial organisms, dust, or other foreign matter from getting into
the samples and changing their properties. Part of the problem is that
contradictory measures are traditionally employed in these two types
of facilities. Biological containment facilities enclose samples at
lower-than-ambient air pressures so any leakage moves air into the sample
chamber and away from the external environment. Clean-room cabinets, on
the other hand, are held at greater-than-ambient gas pressures so leakage
is outward, protecting the enclosed samples from external contamination.

Because a facility combining these features has never been built,
extensive experimentation and testing will be needed to design a system
of two-way protection. This must be accomplished before design work on the
actual Mars quarantine facility begins. Experimentation also is needed to
identify effective sterilization techniques that have a minimal impact on
the physical and chemical properties of the samples. The report recommends
that a continuing committee of biological and geochemical experts be
assembled to oversee all aspects of planning, construction, and operation
of the quarantine facility.

To maximize resources and expedite the process of meeting environmental
requirements, the quarantine facility should be affiliated with -- and
located adjacent to -- an existing containment facility such as those
operated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, the
U.S. Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases in Ft. Detrick,
Md., or the facility projected by the medical branch of the University of
Texas at Galveston. However, NASA should operate and be responsible for the
quarantine facility, the report recommends.

Because operations in a maximum-security containment facility are highly
constrained, the report recommends that only the most basic preliminary
examination necessary to document the samples and test them for biohazards
should be carried out there. Once the samples are cleared for release, a
broader range of examinations should be carried out elsewhere. Plans should
be in place to promptly sterilize a portion of the samples after they are
received so they can be safely transferred out of the facility for study
in specialized university
laboratories.

The committee proposed specific guidelines for release of samples from the
facility. If found to contain no organic matter or other evidence of life,
they could be released without sterilization. If the samples contain
possible evidence of life, which is the most likely case, portions that have
been sterilized by heat or gamma radiation could be certified for release
and study elsewhere. If the samples are found to contain unmistakable
evidence of life, they should not be released at all until an expert panel
of biologists is convened to rethink the situation; the establishment of
a research facility dedicated to their study, far more extensive than the
quarantine facility, will probably be justified.

The study was sponsored by NASA. The National Research Council is the
principal operating arm of the National Academy of Sciences and the
National Academy of Engineering. It is a private, nonprofit institution
that provides independent advice on science and technology issues under a
congressional charter. A committee roster follows.

THE QUARANTINE AND CERTIFICATION OF MARTIAN SAMPLES will be available on
the World Wide Web at http://www.nap.edu . The Academies' Web site also
will feature supplemental information and an extended Web treatment at
http://national-academies.org/webextra/mars . Reporters may obtain a copy
from the Office of News and Public Information (contacts listed above).


NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences
Space Studies Board

COMMITTEE ON PLANETARY AND LUNAR EXPLORATION

JOHN A. WOOD* (CHAIR)
Senior Scientist
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Cambridge, Mass.

WILLIAM V. BOYNTON
Professor of Planetary Science, Cosmochemistry, and Geochemistry
Department of Planetary Science
Lunar and Planetary Laboratory
University of Arizona
Tucson

W. ROGER BUCK
Senior Research Scientist
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Palisades, N.Y., and
Adjunct Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Columbia University
New York City

JAMES P. FERRIS
Research Professor
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and
Director
New York Center for Studies on the Origins of Life
Troy

JOHN M. HAYES*
Director, National Ocean Sciences Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Facility, and
Senior Scientist, Department of Geology and Geophysics
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Woods Hole, Mass.

KAREN J. MEECH
Associate Astronomer
Institute for Astronomy
University of Hawaii
Honolulu

JOHN F. MUSTARD
Assistant Professor
Department of Geological Science
Brown University
Providence, R.I.

ANDREW F. NAGY
Professor of Space Science
Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Space Sciences, and
Professor of Electrical Engineering
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor

KEITH S. NOLL
Associate Astronomer
Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer Instrument Group
Space Telescope Science Institute
Baltimore

DAVID A. PAIGE
Associate Professor of Planetary Science
Department of Earth and Space Sciences
University of California
Los Angeles

ROBERT T. PAPPALARDO
Assistant Professor of Planetary Science
Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences
University of Colorado
Boulder

ANNA-LOUISE REYSENBACH
Assistant Professor of Biology
Department of Biology
Portland State University
Portland, Ore.

J. WILLIAM SCHOPF*
Professor of Paleobiology
Department of Earth and Space Sciences, the Molecular Biology Institute, and
  the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, and
Director
Center for the Study of Evolution and the Origin of Life
University of California
Los Angeles

ANN L. SPRAGUE
Planetary Scientist
Lunar and Planetary Laboratory
University of Arizona
Tucson

RESEARCH COUNCIL STAFF

DAVID H. SMITH
Study Director

* Member, National Academy of Sciences

[NOTE: Text of the full report is available for online viewing at
http://www.nap.edu/books/0309075718/html/index.html]
Received on Wed 30 May 2001 11:02:07 AM PDT