“Human exploration of the solar system and beyond continues, and with that exploration, biological risk increases,” say the Commission’s authors in their May 2024 National Blueprint for Biodefense.
“Probes or humans visiting extraterrestrial environments must not introduce organisms from Earth into those environments. Conversely, they also must ensure that they do not bring back any extraterrestrial or mutated terrestrial microbes that could pose a threat to Earth’s human, animal, plant, or ecosystem health or the Moon.”
And it is not just the import and export of pathogens between worlds that the Commission is worried about. “Spaceflight sometimes reactivates viruses (e.g., herpes, Epstein-Barr, varicella-zoster, cytomegalovirus) and increases viral shedding in astronauts. A human infection in a space-like environment could pose a significant threat to everyone on board,” it notes.
“Additionally, spaceflight severely weakens the immune systems of astronauts, making them more susceptible to terrestrial and extraterrestrial diseases”.
Astro-biodefense aims to identify, characterise, and manage biological threats emerging at the intersection of space exploration and infectious disease, and the report calls on Nasa and the US government to “act now to address these threats before they materialise ‘’.
Celestial contamination labs
Specifically, it calls on Nasa to establish a Planetary Biodefense Board with a direct link to the White House and to authorise the Nasa Office of Planetary Protection to police and regulate the to and fro of pathogens in space.
“We need to start developing the necessary technologies and containment protocols in advance so that when we do bring things back, we can be sure they’re not going to escape into the environment,” JT O’Brien, principal researcher at the Commission and public health expert, told The Telegraph.
“We need to make sure these things are in place before we start tackling this next frontier.”
Nasa already ensures that no potentially harmful microbes are transported between Earth and other celestial bodies through various mechanisms, including decontamination of spacecraft and testing of equipment and samples but the report says that they “can and should do more.”
One recommendation is for Nasa to adapt its contamination labs to be able to cope with potentially high-risk celestial samples. Afterall, it expects to import the first samples from Mars in 2033.
But, currently, even top tier BSL 4 laboratories aren’t deemed secure enough to handle delicate samples from space, according to a major study published by the European Space Foundation in 2012.
Dr. Thomas Hughes is a UK-based scientist and science communicator who makes complex topics accessible to readers. His articles explore breakthroughs in various scientific disciplines, from space exploration to cutting-edge research.
