A small team of engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), California Institute of Technology have developed a unique capability for protecting planetary environments that might harbor bio-signatures, as well as protecting the instruments looking for trace organic signatures of past and/or extant life. Bio-barrier materials, designs of bio-barrier structures for flight applications, and actual flight test results for missions such as the upcoming Mars Scout, Phoenix, 07 launch are discussed in this indepth examination of both the process and steps taken to develop effective bio-barrier mechanisms for planetary environments.