ICAMSR - RAISING PUBLIC AWARENESS ABOUT PLANETARY PROTECTION SINCE 2000

"When the entire biosphere hangs in the balance, it is adventuristic to the extreme to bring Martian life here. Sure, there is a chance it would do no harm; but that is not the point. Unless you can rule out the chance that it might do harm, you should not embark on such a course." - Dr. Carl Woese, the Nobel Prize-nominated biophysicist who while at the University of Illinois discovered the third domain of life - the Archaea.

August 28, 2025

With the recent cancellation of NASA's direct to earth Mars Sample Return project by US President Donald Trump and his Administration, The International Committee Against Mars Sample Return (ICAMSR) has decided at this time to take an indefinite hiatus (meaning no updates) although we can return at any given time.

Furthermore with the recent finding of 26 never before detected extremophiles microorganisms in NASA spacecraft assembly cleanrooms the words planetary protection, forward and back contamination have little meaning today. Unfortunately NASA and the space faring community have made the search for life on Mars much more difficult by unwittingly sending earth's hardiest extremophile microorganisms there for the last 30 years. This now means that determining if there are indigenous Martian life forms it will be a much more difficult today to make sure it isn't earthly extremophile microbes we are detecting.

As it stands now there is no such thing as effective planetary protection standards or protocols and the only NASA spacecraft given a thorough sterilization was the twin NASA Viking Lander missions in 1976. This is important because not only was Viking the first ever search for microbial life on Mars, it was also the only spacecraft to examine pristine Mars soil samples which were consistent with the discovery of microbial metabolism taking place. Now is the time for the space faring community to go back and revisit the Viking biology data in a scientific symposium. Why? Because the finding of complex organic molecules on Mars by NASA's Curiosity and Perseverance rovers now disqualifies the finding of "no organics" on Mars by the 1976 Viking GCMS instrument. This should immediately reopen the case for the Viking Labeled Release biology experiment that found strong evidence for the discovery of extant microbial metabolism on Mars.

With space faring communities continuing their goal of sending humans to Mars, astronaut safety should now take top priority and that means making sure of any biosafety concerns that might endanger such a mission. This should include first ruling-out any harmful indigenous Martian microbes that might exist on Mars before astronauts are sent and before returning such microbes to earth. The US Trump Administration believes the goals of a Mars sample return mission could be accomplished with the first human mission to Mars and asks why spend 11 billion dollars on a robotic spacecraft to do it? However the unanswered question now would be if there are harmful viruses or invasive microorganisms on Mars: Would astronauts be infected and bring it home to earth? Although facing the same technological challenges and costs that the NASA MSR mission faced, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) have stated they plan to go ahead with their Mars Sample Return to earth by 2030. The CNSA has even invited international cooperation. However given the political situation between the US and China it is difficult to imagine how that is going to go forward with a US participation at this time.

Finally, ICAMSR would like to thank all of the people who supported and continue to support our mission of raising awareness about protecting earth's biosphere from a back contamination event from Mars or other celestial object. This includes the hundreds of volunteers, science writers, science advisors, and the numerous media outlets who cared enough about protecting the earth's biosphere from back contamination and who sought to inform the public on the true meaning of planetary protection.

A 1997 photograph showing three of the founding members of the International Committee Against Mars Sample Return (ICAMSR). From left to right: Barry E. DiGregorio (Director), the late (2020) Dr. Patrician Ann Straat (Science Advisor and co-experimenter on Viking Lander 1 and 2 Labeled Release biology experiment) and the late (2021 ) Dr. Gilbert V. Levin (Science Advisor and Principal Investigator of the Viking Lander 1 and 2 Labeled Release biology experiment). Both Dr. Levin and Dr. Straat continued publishing scientific papers together up to the time of their passing, defending their analyses on Mars with the Viking Labeled Release experiment stating that they discovered indigenous extant microbes actively metabolizing in Martian soil at two separate Viking Lander sites on Mars.

August 16, 2024

August 9, 2024

June 13, 2024

A former NASA Planetary Protection Officer filed a whistleblower complaint to the U.S. Office of Special Council regarding safety protocols for Mars Sample Return.
Whistleblower Response to Agency Investigation Report - Read the Report

The whistleblower complaint above lead to the following U.S. Office of Special Council letter to the President of the United States.
Letter to the President of the United States - Read the Letter to President

Jan 27, 2024

ICAMSR Press Release - Did NASA's Mars Science Laboratory rover (Curiosity) intentionally seed Gale Crater with terrestrial microbes? - Read the Press Release

Dec 7, 2022

EPA - Comment Submitted by the United States Environmental Protection Agency - Read Comment
Is the EPA taking on NASA? Or is this just what US government agencies do to each other to get compliance?

Nov 4, 2022

NEPA - Mars Sample Return Campaign
Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), as amended, the Council on Environmental Quality Regulations for Implementing the Procedural Provisions of NEPA and NASA's procedures for implementing NEPA, NASA intends to prepare a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) to identify and analyze potential environmental impacts of the Mars Sample Return (MSR) Campaign Proposed Action and No Action Alternative. Cooperating agencies for this effort include the U.S. Air Force (in accordance with their Environmental Impact Analysis Process), U.S. Army, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Request for Comments
NASA encourages all interested parties to provide comments concerning the content and analysis presented in the Draft PEIS. In addition to, or in place of, attending one of the public meetings, you have the opportunity to submit comments directly to the project docket (Docket ID: NASA-2022-0002) at Regulations.gov or by mail during the public comment period: November 4 - December 19, 2022. To be considered in the Final PEIS, all comments must be postmarked or received online by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) (9:59 p.m. Mountain Standard Time [MST]) on December 19, 2022.

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nepa-mars-sample-return-campaign/

Mars Sample Return (MSR) Campaign
Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement*

Effects of Desiccation and Freezing on Microbial Ionizing Radiation Survivability: Considerations for Mars Sample Return
"Our findings imply that forward contamination of Mars will essentially be permanent, and backward contamination is a possibility if life ever existed on Mars."

In an exclusive Op Ed written for ICAMSR titled "WILL THE MSR BE INFECTED BY THE COVID-19?" ICAMSR Science Advisor Dr. Gilbert V. Levin shares his unique perspective on NASA's current plans to return Martian rock and soil samples directly to the Earth. Levin, now in his 90's, is the only surviving Principal Investigator of the 1976 NASA Viking Lander biology team. He has maintained for the last 44 years that his Viking biology detection instrument (officially known as the Labeled Release experiment) found active microbial metabolism in the soil of Mars. Levin, also an original member of NASA'S Planetary Quarantine Advisory Panel, has always thought bringing samples of Mars directly to Earth could put the Earth's biosphere in danger from possible pathogens.

The Moon: A 100% isolation barrier for Earth during exobiological examination of solar system sample return missions.
Barry E. DiGregorio, Buckingham Centre for Astrobiology

In the near future, space faring nations including NASA plan to bring back to laboratories on Earth samples of soil and rocks from Mars that could contain possible pathogenic viruses and/or bacteria. Read the NASA Report and The Quarantine and Certification of Martian Samples

In light of the loss due to human error of many of the spacecraft sent to Mars over the course of the space age, the International Committee Against Mars Sample Return (ICAMSR) urges the scientific and environmental communities to consider avoiding the return of Martian samples directly to Earth as problems with electronic circuitry malfunctions are common as well as accidental impacts. The study of Martian soil and rocks for signs of life can be accomplished with in-situ life detection instruments on Mars, something NASA has not done since the twin Viking mission in 1976. The question must be asked: Do the benefits of studying Martian samples in laboratories on Earth outweigh the risk of contaminating our world? We only have one Earth. Two of the NASA Viking biology team astrobiologists, Gilbert V. Levin and Patricia Ann Straat have published numerous papers stating they believe that their biology instrument called the Labeled Release instrument discovered living microorganisms in Martian soil. This instrument put on both Viking Mars landers tested Martian soil nine times under a variety of conditions at two different landing sites. Read The dilemma of Mars sample return.

In his 1973 book "Carl Sagan's cosmic connection: an extraterrestrial perspective", Sagan says on page 114:

"Precisely because Mars is an environment of great potential biological interest, it is possible that on Mars there are pathogens, organisms which, if transported to the terrestrial environment, might do enormous biological damage - a Martian plague, the twist in the plot of H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds, but in reverse. This is an extremely grave point. On the one hand, we can argue that Martian organisms cannot cause any serious problems to terrestrial organisms, because there has been no biological contact for 4.5 billion years between Martian and terrestrial organisms. On the other hand, we can argue equally well that terrestrial organisms have evolved no defenses against potential Martian pathogens, precisely because there has been no such contact for 4.5 billion years. The chance of such an infection may be very small, but the hazards, if it occurs, are certainly very high."

Carl Sagan a founding member of The Planetary Society was a strong supporter of planetary protection early on in the space program and wrote about contaminating Mars and the Moon with Earth microbes often. Reporting on the possibility of some hardy hitchhiking Earth microbes reproducing on Mars, Sagan along with colleagues Joshua Lederberg and Elliott Levinthal published a 1968 paper entitled "Contamination of Mars" in the journal Science(v.159, pages 1191- 1196a)where they wrote, "One terrestrial microorganism reproducing as slowly as once a month on Mars, without other ecological limitations, in less than a decade would result in a microbial population of the Martian soil comparable to the Earth." This single sentence illustrates how important it is not only to sterilize spacecraft going to Mars, but also to avoid bringing samples from Mars back to Earth for study.

Another world-renowned scientist who opposed the idea of returning Martian soil and rock samples to Earth was the late Carl Woese, the Nobel Prize-nominated biophysicist who while at the University of Illinois discovered the third domain of life - the Archaea. Woese told ICAMSR in 2001:

"When the entire biosphere hangs in the balance, it is adventuristic to the extreme to bring Martian life here. Sure, there is a chance it would do no harm; but that is not the point. Unless you can rule out the chance that it might do harm, you should not embark on such a course."

Gilbert V. Levin who claims that his Viking Labeled Release experiment discovered microbial life on Mars in 1976 says:

"I fear that, even if a safe Mars Sample Return container could be made and brought to Earth, there is a good probability that some of the sample would escape from the 'secure' lab where the container would be opened". Levin also questions the scientific rationale of returning samples form Mars, "How could we get a living sample to survive the 9 or 10-month journey from Mars without knowing what any Martian microorganisms present in the sample need in the way of substrates, water, temperature, atmosphere, environmental cycling, etc.? Would we ever know whether it started out alive or dead?"

The Untold Truth: How The NASA Viking Mission Found Life On Mars DVD is now available on Amazon.com for both purchase and rent. Former NASA Viking Lander astrobiologist Gilbert V. Levin describes in detail how his biology instrument flown on NASA's twin Viking Lander mission found living microbes in the soil of Mars. A new supporting scientific paper supports his conclusion.

NASA/JPL Press Release: Missing Piece Inspires New Look at Mars Puzzle

September 03, 2010 - PASADENA, Calif. -- Experiments prompted by a 2008 surprise from NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander suggest that soil examined by NASA's Viking Mars landers in 1976 may have contained carbon-based chemical building blocks of life.
Read the full story here.

A new paper being published in the Journal of Geophysical Research with the title "Reanalysis of the Viking results suggests perchlorate and organics at mid-latitudes on Mars" by Rafael Navarro-Gonzalez et al shows that the Viking gas chromatograph mass spectrometer (GCMS) actually found a surprisingly significant amount of organic material in Martian soil at both the Viking 1 and Viking 2 landing sites on Mars. This now reopens the door to the results obtained by the Viking biology experiments - a door that has been largely closed for 34 years due to the misinterpretation of the Viking organic analysis by the GCMS. The authors of the new paper conclude sending a life detection instrument to Mars on a future mission should be a high priority.

Another 10 years before NASA send a life detection experiment to Mars?

The prospect of 10 more years without in-situ life detection attempts on Mars, in the face of enthusiasm raised by recent advances in the field of astrobiology, impelled many members of the scientific community to join the authors of this article in formulating a petition to the NASA Decadal Survey calling for inclusion of a life detection mission as one of its priorities for the coming decade. Within a few days, more than 130 cosigners endorsed the petition, which was sent to the NASA Decadal Survey steering committee on 11 May 2010. The text of that petition is presented here (used by permission).