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      4 hours ago

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Nick_Benardini

      James Nick Benardini is an American microbiologist who serves as the 8th and current Planetary Protection Officer for NASA since 2021.

      https://sma.nasa.gov/sma-disciplines/planetary-protection

      Planetary Protection

      Planetary Protection is the practice of protecting solar system bodies from contamination by Earth life and protecting Earth from possible life forms that may be returned from other solar system bodies. NASA’s Office of Planetary Protection promotes the responsible exploration of the solar system by implementing and developing efforts that protect the science, explored environments and Earth.

      NASA’s Planetary Protection policies and requirements ensure safe and verifiable scientific exploration for extraterrestrial life. The main objectives are to

      • Carefully control forward contamination of other worlds by terrestrial organisms and organic materials carried by spacecraft in order to guarantee the integrity of the search and study of extraterrestrial life, if it exists.
      • Rigorously preclude backward contamination of Earth by extraterrestrial life or bioactive molecules in returned samples from habitable worlds in order to prevent potentially harmful consequences for humans and the Earth’s biosphere.