Table 9.

COSPAR Planetary Protection Categories According to the Type of Missions to Solar System Bodies (Horneck et al., 2007; Rummel, 2007)

Category	Type of mission	Example
I	Target body is not of direct interest for understanding the process of chemical evolution	NEAR-Shoemaker
II	Significant interest relative to chemical evolution but remote chance that contamination by spacecraft could jeopardize future exploration	Venus Express
III	Flybys and orbiter missions in which potential contamination with terrestrial life-forms could jeopardize future biological experiments	Mars orbiters
IV	Lander and probe missions in which potential contamination with terrestrial life-forms could jeopardize future biological experiments	Mars rovers
V	Earth return missions	Return elements of Genesis and Stardust missions