Prof. Abbud-Madrid, who was recently selected as member of the Committee on Planetary Protection of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, contributed to the publication of the report entitled, Planetary Protection for the Study of Lunar Volatiles. The report provides several findings focused on safeguarding the surface and subsurface regions of the Moon from organic and biological contamination. The new study – NASEM CPP report (December 2020) – points to the scientific need to understand pre-biotic evolution and the origin of life, and the likelihood that spacecraft landing on the lunar surface may transfer volatiles to polar cold traps.
