NASA implements changes to planetary protection policies for moon and Mars missions WASHINGTON — NASA announced July 9 two new directives regarding planetary protection for missions to the moon and Mars that implement recommendations of an independent review board last year. The two directives, announced by NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine during a “Moon Dialogs” webinar, are part of an effort by NASA to modernize guidelines that are decades old and which the agency believes could hinder its long-term human exploration plans. The directives reflect “how NASA has evolved on its thinking as it relates to forward and backward harmful biological contamination on the surface of the moon and, of course, on Mars,” Bridenstine said. The first of what are formally known as NASA Interim Directives revises planetary protection classification of the moon . Mission to the moon had been in Category 2, which required missions to document any biological materials on board but set no cleanliness...
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