Avoiding forward and backward contamination during a human Mars surface mission is
essential for preserving the pristine Martian ecosystem and for protecting humans and their
terrestrial home. The overarching goal of planetary protection is to reduce the risk of such
contamination to acceptable levels. For uncrewed missions, this reduction is achieved
through thorough and repeated sterilization of the hardware. For crewed missions, this
approach is not viable. Instead, COSPAR's recommendation is to avoid regions where …