How Will the New Planetary Protection Officer Impact Mars Exploration Protocols?

[BillTre]

There will be a new Planetary Protection Officer soon and changes could be happening at the Planetary Protection Office.
The office makes rules concerned with potential contamination of planets with earthly life.
This Science news article goes over issues (on both sides) that the office is involved in with concerning what various probes are allowed to do on Mars.
I enjoyed humans being described as "bipedal rovers that can not be sterilized".

Since I consider this relevant to astro-biology, I'm not sure if it belongs in an astro- or -biology section.
However, biology doesn't require a prefix so I am liberating my mind from making that decision.

 

[jim mcnamara]

It sort of fits okay. Most of the headlines you see about it appear to me to have the slant 'protect us from ET'.

We have a few Exobiology threads.