Dr. Claudia Mickelson, EHS Deputy Dir. & Special Advisor to the VP for Rsrch, Dr. Catharine Conley, Planetary Protection Officer, NASA
Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/02
Limited to 35 participants
Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions
The UN Space Treaty of 1967 states "that all parties to the Treaty shall pursue studies of outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, and conduct exploration of them, so as to avoid harmful contamination and also adverse changes in the environment of the Earth resulting from the introduction of extraterrestrial matter, and where necessary, shall adopt appropriate measures for this purpose". The need to ensure that scientific integrity of samples and data obtained during investigations of other planets is not compromised has led NASA to develop five categories of target body/mission categories with a range of contamination controls. Over the two days this course will give an introduction to these NASA categories and various methods used for detection and control of microbial contaminants with some short hands-on experiments following the morning presentations and discussion to illustrate the difficulties surrounding achieving the appropriate level of spacecraft sterilization.
Register at: http://ehs.mit.edu/site/content/iap-course-registration
Sponsor(s): Environment, Health and Safety Office
Contact: Claudia Mickelson, N52-496, 617-252-1810, claudiam@mit.edu
| Jan/30 | Wed | 09:00AM-01:00PM | N52-496 |
The first day will include presentation and discussion of NASA planetary and solar system exploration missions, prioritization of missions, issues associated with design of on-board analytical technologies, and development of the NASA Planetary Protection Guidelines. The associated laboratory will cover an introduction to basic microbiology and sampling methods for different types of materials.
Dr. Claudia Mickelson - EHS Deputy Dir. & Special Advisor to the VP for Rsrch, Dr. Catharine Conley - Planetary Protection Officer, NASA
| Jan/31 | Thu | 09:00AM-01:00PM | N52-496 |
The second day will focus on discussion of issues surrounding the international nature of space exploration, prevention of target planet or solar body contamination by exploratory mission equipment, maintaining sample integrity, return to earth and prevention of sample and earth contamination, and prioritizing sample testing. The laboratory will discuss results of the previous day's testing and sampling exercises.
Dr. Claudia Mickelson - EHS Deputy Dir. & Special Advisor to the VP for Rsrch, Dr. Catharine Conley - Planetary Protection Officer, NASA