Addendum to Minutes of the Meeting of the Council of the

National Academy of Sciences on February 8, 1958

 

Resolutions Adopted by the Council
of the National Academy of Sciences
February 8, 1958

The launching of IGY satellites has opened space to exploration.
Accordingly, attempts to reach the moon and planets can be anticipated,
with reasonable confidence, within the foreseeable future.

The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
urges that scientists plan lunar and planetary studies with great care
and deep concern so that initial operations do not compromise and make
impossible forever after critical scientific experiments. For example,
biological or radioactive contamination of extraterrestrial objects
could easily occur unless initial space activities be carefully planned
and conducted with extreme care.

The National Academy of Sciences will endeavor to plan lunar or
planetary experiments in which the Academy participates so as to prevent
contamination of celestial objects in a way that would impair the unique
and powerful scientific opportunities that might be realized in subsequent
scientific exploration.

The Council of the National Academy of Sciences of the United
States of America urges the International Council of Scientific Unions
to encourage and assist the evaluation of possibilities of such contamination and
nation and the development of means for its prevention. The Council
of the Academy also requests the International Council of Scientific
Unions to do whatever else it may to preserve and foster the unaffected
potentialities of space research.

Hee

Subsequent to this resolution, Professor M. Florkin, Laboratoires de Biochimie
Universite de Liege, was asked to convene an international "Committee on Contamina-
tion by Extra-Terrestrial EXploration" which is about to meet at The Hague.

According to a letter from Professor Florkin, the committee will include
delegates from France, Germany, USSR, US, United Kingdom, Switzerland and Belgium.