Mars sample return campaign: biological risk and a proposed sample safety assessment protocol
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Returning surface samples from Mars to Earth has been a major planetary science objective, with the potential for the detection of microbiological life and the possibility of improving our understanding of the origins of life. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the European Space Agency assembled a team to assess the level of risk that returned samples could contain potential biohazards. The team was chartered with optimizing previous sample safety assessment strategies, defining what constitutes a biological hazard, developing a protocol to test for biohazards, and establishing a statistical framework to determine if samples may be safe for release from a high-containment facility. This report presents the biological context for a proposed three-step protocol for testing returned samples, including how to determine if microorganisms are present, and if they could be (or were recently) alive.
Editor(s)
Reguera, Gemma
Date Issued
2026-06-01
Date Acceptance
2026-05-01
Citation
Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 2026, 92 (6)
ISSN
0099-2240
Publisher
American Society for Microbiology
Journal / Book Title
Applied and Environmental Microbiology
Volume
92
Issue
6
Copyright Statement
© 2026 McDonnell et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
License URL
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/42201312
Subjects
astrobiology
biohazard
life detection
space travel
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
United States
Article Number
02461-25
Date Publish Online
2026-05-27