NASA explores the unknown in air and space, innovates for the benefit of humanity, and inspires the world through discovery.
The grant program focuses on planetary protection, which entails preventing biological contamination during outbound and sample return missions to other planetary bodies. It supports research aimed at enhancing the understanding of the potential for Earth microbes to survive in extraterrestrial environments, relevant to preventing contamination of other bodies by organisms carried on spacecraft. The program seeks to improve NASA's comprehension of the risks of forward and backward contamination, strategies to minimize these risks, and standards for spacecraft preparation and operating procedures.